Introduction:

The critically ill patient is characterized by an increases catabolic response whith multifactorial origin, which increases muscle loss. Ultrasound at the bedside is a useful tool for measuring muscle wasting, and assess nutritional goals.

Material and methods:

A prospective study with a low risk diagnostic intervention. We measure the thickness of the quadriceps muscle of a sample of 20 consecutive patients. Two groups were divided, in group 1 with 11 patients who had muscle wasting represented in percentage and group 2 with 9 patients without muscle wasting.

Results:

In univariate analysis only difference was found between the two groups on the day they were achieved nutrition goals, and was late for the group of patients with muscle wasting (5 [5-5.5; 95%] and 3 [2.5-5, 95% CI] p = 0.02). In multivariate analysis corroborates the same association, but without statistical significance (RM 10.8 [0.93-125-68, 95% CI]). For the correlation analysis an inverse relationship between SOFA score and the percentage of muscle wasting (r = -0.48 and r2 = 0.23) was found.

Conclusions:

In the study a possible association was met between the presence of muscle wasting in critically ill patients and delay in achieving nutrition goals. And inverse relationship between the value of SOFA score and the percentage of muscle loss.

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