Guillain-Barre syndrome in Korean children

Guillain-Barre syndrome is known as one of the autoimmune disease, but the etiology, pathophysiology relating immune reaction, as well as the treatment are not established. It still causes physical handicap although its rate is low. The causes, clinical symptoms and outcome of 132 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome have been analyzed. The patients' ages ranged from 4 months to 15 years. The antecedent events for 56.1% of the patients were known. These were upper respiratory tract infection, unexplained fever, vomiting, diarrhea, vaccination, measles, german measles, shigellosis, mumps, hepatitis, pertussis and surgery in order of frequency. The CSF protein level reached a maximum at 12.3 +/- 9.5 days. Steroids did not influence the outcome of this disease. More studies are necessary to conquer the disease.