Jorge Mario Palmezano Díaz,Reynaldo Mauricio Rodríguez Amaya*, Diego Alejandro Rangel Rivera, Silvia Juliana Galvis Blanco, William Alejandro Camargo Ariza, Claudia Lucia Figueroa Pineda, Gustavo Pradilla Ardila, Stephany Mayerly Cristancho Vasquez, Jenny Paola Coha Diaz
Introduction: Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is defined as progressive
polyradiculoneuropathy characterized by the presence of flaccid paralysis
with symmetrical limb weakness associated with hyporeflexia or arreflexia.
It is estimated that an incidence varies between 0.20-3.23 cases per 100,000
inhabitants around the world.
Methods and design: A retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. The study
population was conformed by all the patients that entered a University Hospital
of Colombia between 2012-2016. Patients younger than 13 years or who had an
incomplete medical history were excluded.
Results: A total of 55 patients were analyzed. The median age was 45 years and the
median time toevolution was 5 days. Sixty percent of the patients were men. The
presence of motor involvement, the initial distal involvement and the presence of
decreased reflexes were present in more than 90% of the cases. There were no
deaths in the hospital setting.
Conclusion: The clinical characteristics found are similar to those described in
the world literature. Despite the risk of ventilatory failure of these patients and
the need for admission to an intensive care unit, no fatal cases were reported.
The clinical presentation in this group of patients is typical, fulfilling Brighton
diagnostic criteria in most cases with certainty level 1. Most patients are managed
with immunoglobulin with good clinical response.