Abstract
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy, which
has various clinical presentations and both axonal and demyelinating forms. The original
description of “ascending paralysis” encompasses the most common varieties: the primary
demyelinating form, acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP), and some
of the axonal forms, acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) and acute motor and sensory
axonal neuropathy (AMSAN). However, there are now well-documented acute “monophasic”
polyneuropathies that have a different clinical phenomenology than that described
originally by Guillain, Barré, and Strohl: Miller Fisher syndrome, pure sensory neuropathy/neuronopathy,
pandysautonomia, and oropharyngeal variant. Here the authors review both typical GBS
(AIDP, AMAN, and AMSAN), and variant syndromes with a focus on clinical and diagnostic
features, pathologic findings, pathogenesis, and treatment.
Keywords
Guillain-Barré syndrome - acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy
- acute motor axonal neuropathy - acute motor and sensory axonal neuropathy - Fisher
syndrome