Clinical characteristics and prognosis of guillain barre syndrome [Guillain barre sendromunda klinik özellikler ve prognoz]

Objective: we retrospectively investigated the epidemiological,clinical,laboratory and electrophysiological features of patients with guillain barre syndrome (gbs) and their relationship with prognosis. methods: we reviewed the medical records of patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of gbs at our neurology clinic from january 2001 through january 2012. results: sixty-four patients with the diagnosis of gbs included 40 males (mean age 50; range 17-79) and 24 (mean age 45; range 20-76) females. based on clinical and electrophysiological features,70.3% of the patients had acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (aidp),15.6% had acute motor axonal neuropathy,9.4% had acute motor and sensory axonal neuropathy and 4.7% had miller fisher syndrome. gbs scores and muscle forces of the patients with axonal forms were worse than those of the patients with aidp (p<0.05). thirty patients had medical records of control examinations after discharge. eighty percent (24/30) of these patients were able to walk without aid,and 20 patients (66.6%) had minimal or no symptoms after approximately 12 months (range 8-34 months). patients' medical research council (mrc) sum-scores exhibited a significant correlation with prognosis (p<0.001,r>0.75). findings of autonomic involvement,respiratory distress requiring mechanical ventilation,axonal findings on electromyography and axonal forms were associated with poor prognosis (p<0.05). conclusions: the demographic,clinical and electrophysiological features of gbs in our study were consistent with the literature. a clinical approach based on awareness that axonal involvement,autonomic dysfunction,respiratory distress requiring mechanical ventilation and severe muscle weakness are poor prognostic factors will contribute to patient care and planning of treatment.