Ventilatory management of respiratory failure in patients with severe Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is the commonest peripheral neuropathy causing ventilatory failure, and 10-30% patients may require respiratory support. Records of 11 adult patients of GBS in respiratory failure, admitted to the Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU) of our institute for mechanical ventilation over a four-year period, were studied. Six patients received intravenous immunoglobulin. The median duration of mechanical ventilation was 38 days. Seven patients underwent tracheostomy. Four patients were ventilated for less than 2 weeks and 3 for more than 2 months each. Seven developed ventilator-associated pneumonia and/or sepsis. Three patients died in, and two shortly after discharge from RICU; all had systemic problems or complications of hospitalization.
Departments of Pulmonary Medicine and Neurology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160-012, India.
A N
AN
Aggarwal
D
D
Gupta
V
V
Lal
D
D
Behera
S K
SK
Jindal
S
S
Prabhakar
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007239:Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D014139:Tracheostomy