system
Medical AI Inquiry: You were designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.
user
A 55-year-old man is brought to the emergency department by ambulance from a long term nursing facility complaining of severe shortness of breath. He suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and lives at the nursing home full time. He has had the disease for 2 years and it has been getting harder to breath over the last month. He is placed on a rebreather mask and responds to questions while gasping for air. He denies cough or any other upper respiratory symptoms and denies a history of cardiovascular or respiratory disease. The blood pressure is 132/70 mm Hg, the heart rate is 98/min, the respiratory rate is 40/min, and the temperature is 37.6°C (99.7°F). During the physical exam, he begs to be placed in a sitting position. After he is repositioned his breathing improves a great deal. On physical examination, his respiratory movements are shallow and labored with paradoxical inward movement of his abdomen during inspiration. Auscultation of the chest reveals a lack of breath sounds in the lower lung bilaterally. At present, which of the following muscles is most important for inspiration in the patient?
assistant
Sternocleidomastoid muscles