Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Its Variants: Clinical Course and Prognostic Factors

We aimed to analyze the frequency, clinical characteristics, medical treatment options and final functional status of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and its variants in a population from a tertiary hospital setting.

All medical records of patients with acute inflammatory polyneuropathy between the years of 1998-2013 were retrospectively screened. Demographic, clinical and laboratory information, treatment options and the rate of recovery of the patients were gathered.

A total of 183 patients met the study criteria. Subtypes were typical demyelinating form (n=102, 79.1%), acute motor sensory axonal variant (n=11, 8.5%), acute motor axonal variant (n=10, 7.8%), Miller-Fisher syndrome (n=5, 3.9%), and pure sensory subtype (n=1, 0.8%). Remaining patients had the diagnosis of acute-onset chronic inflammatory demyelinating polynuropathy. The data of treatment option were available for 70 patients. Most of the patients received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatment or the combination of IVIg and methylprednisolone. One patient died, there was no improvement in eight patients and rest showed improvement with varying degrees.

We did not observe major change of recovery between different treatment options, however, most of the patients using methylprednisolone required IVIg because of inadequate response.