[Functional recovery in Guillain-Barre syndrome: benefits of plasma exchange]

A monocentric, retrospective, comparative long term study based essentially on functional criteria was performed on 27 patients presenting Guillain-Barré syndrome, 14 treated with plasma exchange (PE), 13 with conventional therapy during the same period. Severity of the disease was similar in both groups. Functional improvement of PE treated patients was significant and mean duration of hospital stay significantly shortened (mean 79 days). These findings confirm those in the literature and suggest that treatment with PE be applied to every case of severe recent Guillain-Barre syndrome.