Could Changes in Sternocleidomastoid Muscle Thickness be a Predictor of Sarcopenia in Intensive Care Patients?

Sarcopenia is an important clinical condition, characterized by a decrease in muscle mass and function that increases with age, especially in elderly patients. Studies have shown that sarcopenic patients have higher morbidity and mortality rates than non-sarcopenic patients. Along with the increased risk of muscle wasting in intensive care patients, there is an increase in both hospital mortality rates and the frequency of post-hospital mobilization problems.

Intensive care patients are a group of patients who are very prone to protein-energy malnutrition, and this leads to complications such as nosocomial infection and multiple organ failure, leading to prolongation of the stay in the intensive care unit, as well as an increase in morbidity and mortality. Therefore, nutritional support is a routine requirement of intensive care treatment and has a vital role in the prevention and treatment of nutritional deficiencies in intensive care patients.

The first point that should be evaluated in terms of the follow-up of a patient on whom nutritional support is maintained is to know for what reason, when, and what kind of treatment is planned in terms of quality and quantity. This is a starting point for monitoring. Knowing the patient's clinical and laboratory values when nutritional therapy is initiated allows the evaluation of how these data have changed during follow-up. The purpose of assessment of nutritional status is to identify the type and degree of malnutrition in order to make a rational treatment approach. However, there is no test that is both sensitive and specific to determine malnutrition in intensive care patients.