Guillain-Barré syndrome: advances in pathogenic understanding and diagnostic improvements

Abstract

Introduction: Guillain–Barré syndrome is the most common acute flaccid paralysis worldwide. Advances in pathogenesis and diagnosis over recent years have enhanced our understanding of the disease.

Areas covered: Literature in PubMed and Cochrane Library with keywords of ‘Guillain-Barré syndrome’, ‘acute motor axonal neuropathy’, ‘diagnosis’ and ‘pathogenesis’ were searched. Papers up to January 2015 were included and the emphasis is mainly put on those published in the past 3 years.

Expert opinion: Significant advances have been made in the diagnosis and pathogenesis of Guillain–Barré syndrome and improvement has been made in the understanding of the disease as well as management of patients. However, more studies involving large multicenter cohorts are required as there are still unanswered questions in this field.

Keywords:

• autoantibodies
• diagnosis
• Guillain–Barré syndrome
• pathogenesis

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr Yu Zhong Wang, Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical College, China, for his edits and comments.

Declaration of interest

N Yuki received grants from the Singapore National Medical Research Council, which helped to support this work (grant # IRG 10nov086 and CSA/047/2012). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents, received or pending, or royalties.

Notes

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