TREATMENT OF GUILLAIN-BARRE-SYNDROME WITH HIGH-DOSE IMMUNE GLOBULINS COMBINED WITH METHYLPREDNISOLONE - A PILOT-STUDY

In an open study 25 patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome were treated for 5 days with intravenous immune globulins in a dose of 0.4 gm/kg o f body weight/day and 0.5 gm of methylprednisolone intravenously per d ay. The results of this combined treatment were compared with the resu lts from. a group of 74 patients who were treated with immune globulin s only in a recent Dutch Guillain-Barre trial. In the methylprednisolo ne-immune globulin treatment group, 19 of 25 patients (76%) improved b y one or more functional grades after 4 weeks, as compared with 39 (53 %) of 74 patients treated with immune globulin alone (p = 0;04). Also the median time required to the stage of walking independently was red uced in the methylprednisolone-immune globulin treatment group. This p ilot study suggests that combined treatment with methylprednisolone an d immune globulins in patients with the Guillain-Barre syndrome is mor e effective than treatment with immune globulins alone; a randomized c linical trial might confirm this.