J Korean Neurol Assoc.  1984 Jun;2(1):3-13.

A Clinical Study on Guillain-Barr'e Syndrome

• Rho JK
• Kwon OS
• Lee KH
• Myong HJ

Abstract

Authors reviewed clinical recordings of 102 patients who were diagnosed as Guillain-Barre syndrome from 1979 to 1983 at Seoul National University Hospital. Among them, eighty-five cases were selected for the clinical study of Guillain-Barre syndrome through application of strict diagnostic criteria. And the following results were obtained. 1) There was a male preponderance (2.5:1) and an apparent predilection for the first and the second decades in this series. 2) Seasonal predilection was in summer and fall over five years. As judged from the uneven monthly incidence rate in each year, some epidemic tendency is likely to be in Guillain-Barre syndrome. 3) Sixty cases (71%) of this series had a history of antecedental events. The onset of neuritic symptoms occurred within one week from the preceding events in twenty-nine cases and one to two weeks in twenty cases. 4) The neuritic symptoms started from lower limbs in fifty cases (59%), upper limbs in eighteen (21%), cranial nerve distribution in six (7%) and developed nearly simultaneously in eleven (13%). 5) Most of the disabilities of the patients were devided into flaccid paralysis of limbs, cranial nerve dysfunction, autonomic dysfunction, respiratory difficulty and sensory abnormalities (paresthesia and myalgia). Autonomic dysfunction was observed in nine cases (11%), respiratory difficulty in thirty-one (37%), sensory abnormality in thirty-two (38%), and cranial nerve dysfunction in forty-seven (55%). 6) Authors devided the crainal nerve dysfunction into facial diplegia which was the most frequent form, bulbar palsy the next, masticatory muscle weakness the third, and ocular paresis the least. 7) There were two cases of Fisher syndrome (2.4%), three cases of polyneuritis cranialis (3.5%), and two cases of recurrence (2.4%) in this series. 8) Two cases (2.4%) died of respiratroy and bulbar dysfunction. Five cases (6%) had residual disability in motor function till six months follow-up.

MeSH Terms

Bulbar Palsy, Progressive
Cranial Nerves
Extremities
Follow-Up Studies
Guillain-Barre Syndrome
Humans
Incidence
Lower Extremity
Male
Masticatory Muscles
Miller Fisher Syndrome
Neuritis
Paralysis
Paresis
Recurrence
Seasons
Seoul
Upper Extremity