[Treatment of acute polyneuropathies]

To describe the treatment of a group of polyneuropathies of different aetiologies, characterized by acute onset.

We review the treatment of the Guillain-Barré syndrome, whose mortality has been significantly reduced by the use of intensive care units. Plasmapheresis and immunoglobulin have been shown to be effective and speed clinical recovery of these patients. The use of corticosteroids is controversial, since clinical studies have not shown them to be effective in treating this disease. In this article we also describe the treatment of other neuropathies such as neuropathies secondary to vasculitis, vasculitis limited to the peripheral nervous system and vasculitis associated with infections such as HIV and hepatitis B.