title: [Chronic polyneuritis of the Guillain-Barré type. Significance of long-term electroneurographic follow-up findings].
abstract: Nineteen patients with various forms of chronic polyneuritis of the Guillain-Barré type were attributed by uniform clinical criteria to the different subgroups and their electroneurographic findings followed during the clinical course. The follow-up studies were conducted for 1 to 12 years with a mean of 5.3 years. All patients were treated with steroids and/or Azathioprin, in addition, six patients were subjected to plasma exchange therapy. Of the 13 patients without plasma exchange four demonstrated improvement of electroneurographic parameters, four were unchanged, two deteriorated. The six patients treated with additional plasma exchange showed improvement in four cases and deterioration in two cases. No correlation was found between clinical findings and long-term electroneurographic data. Improvement of electroneurographic data was usually less impressive than the clinical recovery. Following plasma exchange treatment three patients showed remarkable, however only temporary improvement of electroneurographic data which also did not correlate to the long-term outcome. Therefore, the long-term follow-up of electroneurographic findings renders no decisive prognostic statement in chronic polyneuritis.
authors.affiliation: Universitäts-Nervenklinik, Schwerpunkt Neurologie, Köln.
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Haupt
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gibbels
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology; D010951:Plasma Exchange; D011129:Polyradiculoneuropathy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission
vernacular_title: Chronische Polyneuritis vom Typ Guillain-Barré. Bedeutung der Langzeitverläufe elektroneurographischer Befunde.