Respiratory Musculature Evaluated by Computed Tomography in the Setting of Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation.

Background: Diaphragm atrophy has been observed in subjects who undergo invasive mechanical ventilation. We propose a new method to assess for respiratory muscle (RM) changes in subjects who undergo invasive mechanical ventilation by assessing for changes in respiratory muscles through computed tomography (CT).

Methods: A retrospective case series study was conducted on subjects who underwent invasive mechanical ventilation and received at least 2 chest CT scans during admission.