Abstract
This is a case of a six year old girl who was admitted to the intensive care unit because of status asthmaticus with mediastinal and subcutaneous emphysema, bi-lateral pneumothorax and atelectasis.
During treatment in the ICU there was no communication with her surroundings. After moving from the ICU to a twin bed room her symptoms improved, but diffuse slow waves were seen temporally in the awake EEG.
As the causes of EEG abnormality, 1: hypoxia, 2: CO2 narcosis, 3: sedatives used for intubation, 4: steroid, 5: neophylline or 6: ICU syndrome due to psychological anxiety can be considered, although there was no evidence of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 as mentioned above.
During the treatment for two weeks in the ICU, this patient suffered from stress and had psychological anxiety, then lost conversational ability.
After moving from the ICU to a twin room, these symptoms were improved.
Therefore, ICU syndrome is suspected to be the main cause of these symptoms and EEG abnormality.
