Relapsing Idiopathic Polyneuritis During Pregnancy

Acute idiopathic polyneuritis (Guillain-Barre syndrome) has occasionally been noted during pregnancy and the puerperium. However, relapsing idiopathic polyneuritis is rare in successive pregnancies. We describe a 24-year-old woman with two attacks of disabling polyneuritis in successive pregnancies. She underwent uneventful cesarean sections at full term. Excellent spontaneous recovery followed the first cesarean section over a period of 12 months. Recovery was incomplete ten months after the second delivery. Cerebrospinal fluid was always acellular with mod-$ est elevations of protein. Immunoflu-$ orescent assays for antinerve antibodies of sequential serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples were always negative in this patient, but were positive in five of six patients with acute idiopathic polyneuritis. This difference suggests thát relapsing neuropathy of pregnancy is not immunologic in origin.