Abstract
Background and objectives: Guillain Barre Syndrome is the most common peripheral neuropathy causing respiratory failure, and about 10-30% of these patients require mechanical ventilation sometimes during their illness.
Materials and methods: Ninety one children under 15years old with GBS were studied over a period of 3 years. Thirteen (14.4%) of these patients required assisted ventilation. A comparison was made between the clinical, electrodiagnostic, and laboratory data from patients who required mechanical ventilation and those who did not.
Results: Progression to respiratory failure necessitating mechanical ventilation was highly likely to occur in those with younger age (p=0.001), cranial nerve involvement (p=0.03), and loss of deep tendon reflexes in upper limbs (p=0.04), lack of motor unit action potential (p=0.009) or presentation of fibrillation potentials (p<0.0001) on electromyography and markedly attenuated (>80%) CMAP amplitude on nerve conduction study (p<0.0001) were significantly more common in the ventilated group.
Conclusion: While inherently unpredictable, the clinical course of patients with severe GBS may be predictable to some extent, on the basis of clinical information and electrodiagnostic findings.