Guillain-Barre Syndrome Followed in the PICU; 3-year Experience

Abstract

Objective: After the poliomyelitis eradicated, Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is the most common cause of acute flaccid paralysis in healthy child. It is one of the neuromuscular disorders required treatment to pediatric intensive care unit. Aim of this study is to present the three-year’s experience of caring for patients with GBS admitted the PICU in the university hospital. Materials and Methods: Patients who were admitted to the PICU with diagnosed GBS between March 2016 and March 2019 were evaluated retrospectively. Results: Twenty-two patients were diagnosed with GBS during study period. Seven of them needed PICU in 8 admissions, and they formed the study group. Four of them were female and 3 of them were male. They were 3 to12 years old. All of them were admitted in the PICU because of respiratory distress symptoms. The paralysis followed a nonspecific respiratory or gastrointestinal infection by 3 to 7 days, and ascending progress was present. Intravenous immunoglobulin infusion was administered in all patients. Five of them need to plasmapheresis and mechanical ventilator support. Stay to PICU length was 2 to 87 days and hospitalization length was 14 to 98 days. All of them were discharged, and became able to walk unaided. Conclusion: Our results show that PICU follow-up is very important in children with GBS. Although duration of mechanical ventilation, and hospitalization length is long, prognosis is good with effective management strategies.

Keywords

• guillain-barre sendromu
• plasmaferez
• intravenöz immunoglobulin
• çocuk yoğun bakım ünitesi
• guillain-barre syndrome
• plasmapheresis
• intravenous immunoglobulin
• pediatric intensive care unit