title: Motor nerve biopsy in severe Guillain-Barré syndrome.
abstract: We undertook a biopsy of a terminal branch of the musculocutaneous nerve in a man with severe Guillain-Barré syndrome and very small distally evoked action potentials. The biopsy showed pronounced subperineurial edema, macrophage infiltration, and many axons that had been completely demyelinated, some associated with intratubal macrophages. The biopsy unequivocally identified the pathological process as primary demyelination, not axonal degeneration, and was more informative than previous reports of sural nerve biopsies in patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, UMDS, Guy's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: McColl
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gale
mesh_terms: D001369:Axons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001706:Biopsy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008875:Middle Aged; D009138:Musculocutaneous Nerve / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009431:Neural Conduction; D011129:Polyradiculoneuropathy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology