title: Single dose immunoglobulin therapy for childhood Guillain-Barré syndrome.
abstract: To establish the efficacy of intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) in the treatment of acute Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), we treated nine consecutive pediatric cases (age 2.5-13.5 years) fulfilling the criteria for GBS with a single dose of IVIG (Sandoglobulin; 2 g/kg/BW). None of the patients experienced any IVIG related side-effects. The mean time required to improve by at least one grade on the functional GBS scale after IVIG treatment was 3.5 days, while the mean period to regain ambulation was 11.2 days. Full mobilization without evidence of relapse in the follow-up period (mean 14.5 months) was noted in all but one patient who relapsed after 5 months. We conclude that the early use of a single IVIG dose may prevent further progression of the disease, thus shortening the clinical course of childhood GBS. The most beneficial IVIG dose regimen remains to be determined by controlled trials.
authors.affiliation: 1st Pediatric Clinic, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece. jeff@med.auth.gr
authors.forename: D I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Zafeiriou
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Kontopoulos
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Katzos
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Gombakis
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Kanakoudi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D011129:Polyradiculoneuropathy / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous