Article Text
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Wakerley and Yuki1 report the wide heterogeneity of the clinical spectrum of Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS), highlighting atypical presentations and reviewing the differential diagnoses. The approach is practical and their intent is to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment without relying on laboratory and electrophysiological findings. It is nearly 100 years since the description of GBS, the recognition of its numerous variants and subtypes is just part of its continuously evolving and fascinating history.
GBS has long been considered synonymous with acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP); the characteristic electrophysiological correlates of demyelination were described from the 1960s. For years, the electrodiagnosis of GBS was considered relatively easy but with time it has become increasingly complicated. In the 1990s, GBS was recognised to include two primary axonal subtypes: acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) and acute motor and sensory axonal neuropathy (AMSAN), both associated with antecedent Campylobacter jejuni infection and autoantibodies to gangliosides.
AIDP, AMAN and AMSAN are difficult …
Footnotes
-
Competing interests None.
-
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
Linked Articles
- Editors' commentary
Read the full text or download the PDF:
Other content recommended for you
- Pitfalls in electrodiagnosis of Guillain–Barré syndrome subtypes
- Involvement of sensory fibres in axonal subtypes of Guillain–Barré syndrome
- Antiganglioside antibodies are associated with axonal Guillain–Barré syndrome: A Japanese–Italian collaborative study
- New classification of autoimmune neuropathies based on target antigens and involved domains of myelinated fibres
- Autoimmune nodo-paranodopathies of peripheral nerve: the concept is gaining ground
- Electrodiagnosis of GBS subtypes by a single study: not yet the squaring of the circle
- Guillain–Barré syndrome in Asia
- Zika virus infection and Guillain-Barré syndrome: a review focused on clinical and electrophysiological subtypes
- Hyper-reflexia in Guillain-Barré syndrome: systematic review
- A multicentre prospective study of Guillain-Barré Syndrome in Japan: a focus on the incidence of subtypes