[Plasma exchange treatment in chronic polyneuritis of the Guillain-Barré type. Experiences with 9 personal cases]

Following a review of pertinent literature, nine cases of chronic polyneuritis are reported, who underwent a total of 21 series of plasma exchange treatment during immunosuppressive medication. The effect of treatment was variable. Four out of 7 patients with relapsing and/or stepwise progressive disease demonstrated reproducible improvement of neurological signs. The three others responded to a lesser degree. Two patients with a chronic progressive course experienced only mild improvement. In general, the reaction to plasma exchange did not correlate with duration and severity of the previous clinical course, reaction to immunosuppressive drugs, or electrophysiological and morphological findings in muscle and nerve biopsies. Moreover, a clear correlation with pathogenic effects of patient-IgG in animal experiments ("passive transfer") was not discernible.