CANN - 55th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions

The purpose of this presentation is to understand the different variants of Guillain Barré Syndrome.

We often think of Guillain Barre syndrome as altered sensation and weakness in a symmetric glove and stocking presentation. This is the most common symptoms we see. We recently had a patient who presented only motor deficit that rapidly progressed over the course of 24h. His sensation was completely intact. However, he went from weak ataxic movements to not being able to move all 4 limbs within 24h. What makes this case different? This is our case study.

Let us look at this case considering what we can learn about the variants of Guillain Barré. What is the pathogenesis of each variant? Guillain Barré syndrome is the umbrella term used for acute immune-mediated polyneuropathies triggered by an antecedent infection, vaccination, or in rare events of surgery, trauma, or bone-marrow transplantation. It is a monophasic illness with several variants. There are two categories of polyneuropathies: Axonal and demyelinating polyneuropathies.

Variants of Guillain Barré syndrome include acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP), Acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN), Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS), and Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis (BBE) (Lange, D. J., Robinson-Papp, Jessica, 2023). The variations are thought to be due to the differences in the preceding infections that triggered GBS (Leonhard, S.E., Van der Eijk, A.A. et al, 2022). The symptoms vary depending on the antibody involved affecting myelinated motor, sensory, cranial, and/or sympathetic nerves. The main features of these main variants will be discussed. Treatment and current research in treatment will also be explored.