Treatment of autoimmune neuromuscular diseases with high-dose intravenous immune globulin. Discussion

The majority of autoimmune neuromuscular diseases fall into three groups: 1) The autoimmune neuropathies, which include the acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (Guillain-Barre syndrome), the chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, the paraproteinemic polyneuropathies, and the anti-GM1-associated motor neuropathies with conduction block; 2) the inflammatory myopathies, which include the dermatomyositis and polymyositis complex; and 3) the autoimmune neuromuscular junction defects, which include myasthenia gravis, and the Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome