Refractory Crohn's disease complicated with Guillain-Barré syndrome: A case report

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprises a group of chronic inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders, including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis, with uncertain etiologies. The natural course of IBD can be accompanied by extraintestinal manifestations involving the skin, mucous membranes, musculoskeletal structures, eyes, cardiovascular system and nervous system. Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a type of peripheral neuropathy. However, the etiology and pathogenesis of IBD combined with GBS are unclear, and only a few clinical cases have been reported. Here, we report a case of refractory CD complicated by GBS and review the previous literature to improve the understanding of these diseases.

A 34-year-old man had a 9-year history of refractory CD. He became unresponsive to multiple drugs and experienced recurrent intestinal fistulas. After several abdominal surgeries and treatment with ustekinumab, he achieved clinical remission. Unfortunately, he developed GBS during maintenance treatment with ustekinumab. According to previous reports, in some patients with IBD combined with GBS, GBS may be a comorbidity, an extraintestinal manifestation of IBD, or an adverse reaction to IBD therapeutic drugs. After a comprehensive evaluation, we suspected that GBS might have been a comorbidity in this patient. To avoid fatal disease relapse after medication discontinuation, we concluded that ustekinumab should not be withdrawn. On the basis of a joint decision between doctors and the patient, we decided to continue maintenance treatment with ustekinumab along with intravenous immunoglobulin, dexamethasone and traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture, which resulted in a steady improvement in his GBS symptoms and sustained remission of CD.

When IBD is complicated by a neurological disease, it is first necessary to analyze the patient's condition and then choose the corresponding treatment strategy. If the neurological disease is a specific comorbidity, treatment of both IBD and the comorbid disease should be considered. For IBD patients with extraintestinal manifestations involving the nervous system, neurological manifestations tend to resolve when the active IBD is controlled. When an adverse drug reaction is suspected, the medication should be discontinued, and symptomatic treatment should be administered.