image by: Doctor Jana

HWN Suggests

Ep157 Neuromuscular Disease for Emergency Medicine

There is a long list of rare neuromuscular diseases. Nonetheless, there are a few that you are likely to see in the ED, that are relevant to Emergency Medicine because they require timely diagnosis and treatment... we keep it short and simple by limiting our discussion to the key clinical clues and management strategies of two of the more common acute life-threatening neuromuscular diseases, myasthenia gravis and Guillain Barré syndrome, and how to distinguish them from their mimics…

Guillain-Barré syndrome and myasthenia gravis are two neuromuscular disorders that can present with rapid respiratory compromise and subsequent mortality. Fortunately, they both present with hallmarks…

read full article

Featured

  Oh Me Nerves! A Neurology Medley

Here we seek to review relatively common neurology presentations and some controversies surrounding their management.

Articles of Interest

Practical approach to the patient with acute neuromuscular weakness

Acute neuromuscular paralysis (ANMP) is a clinical syndrome characterized by rapid onset muscle weakness progressing to maximum severity within several days to weeks (less than 4 wk). Bulbar and respiratory muscle weakness may or may not be present.

Resources

McGill

GBS: Progressive bilateral, ascending, relatively symmetric weakness of the limbs + areflexia. MG: Fluctuating, fatigable weakness of commonly used muscles