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 of body weight/day and 0.5 gm of methylprednisolone intravenously per day. The results of this combined treatment were compared with the results from. a group of 74 patients who were treated with immune globulins only in a recent Dutch Guillain-Barre trial. In the methylprednisolone-immune globulin treatment group, 19 of 25 patients (76%) improved by 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 reduced in the methylprednisolone-immune globulin treatment group. This pilot study suggests that combined treatment with methylprednisolone and immune globulins in patients with the Guillain-Barre syndrome is more effective than treatment with immune globulins alone; a randomized clinical trial might confirm this.