title: Pain and the Guillain-Barré syndrome in children under 6 years old.
abstract: During a 15-year period, 29 children, under the age of 6 years, with acute Guillain-Barré syndrome were seen at our institution. A review of their charts revealed that pain was a symptom in all patients and was present on admission in 79% of cases. Pain was often the most important symptom and led to misdiagnosis in 20 patients (69%). In 11 of these children, symptoms were present for more than a week before the correct diagnosis was made. The most common pain syndrome was back and lower limb pain, present in 83% of patients. Pediatricians should consider Guillain-Barré syndrome in their differential diagnosis when faced with a child who has lower limb pain and areflexia.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Hôpital Sainte-Justine and Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agenarioti-Bélanger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vanasse
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007866:Leg; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D011129:Polyradiculoneuropathy / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012021:Reflex, Abnormal; D012189:Retrospective Studies