Guillain-Barré syndrome: an overview of current concepts.

Publisher Summary The acquired immune-mediated polyneuropathies are common treatable problems facing neurologists. Clinical diagnostic criteria have facilitated diagnosis, classification, and research studies. Recent investigations have given new insight into their pathogenesis. There is increasing interest in disorders of the peripheral nervous system in which the immune system seems to play a primary pathologic role. Guillain–Barre syndrome (GBS) is the most common form of acute neuromuscular paralysis in developed countries and the commonest of the acquired immune-mediated neuropathies. The disease is heterogeneous both in terms of clinical presentation and in electrophysiology. Diagnosis of GBS is made based on characteristic history, physical examination, and laboratory findings. Weakness and loss of tendon reflexes are the hallmarks of most forms of GBS. Electrodiagnostic studies are useful early in the course and help to characterize the pattern of GBS as either more demyelinating or axonal.