Respiratory Muscle Assessment in Acute Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

PURPOSE: Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is a life-threatening disease due to respiratory muscle involvement. This study aimed at objectively assessing the course of respiratory muscle function in GBS subjects within the first week of admission to an intensive care unit.

METHODS

Medical Research Council Sum Score (MRC-SS), vigorimetry, spirometry, and respiratory muscle function tests (inspiratory/expiratory muscle strength: PImax/PEmax, sniff nasal pressure: SnPna) were assessed twice daily. GBS Disability Score (GBS-DS) was assessed once daily. On days one (d1) and seven (d7), blood gases and twitch mouth pressure during magnetic phrenic nerve stimulation (Pmo,tw) were additionally evaluated.

RESULTS

Nine subjects were included. MRC-SS, vigorimetry, PImax, and SnPna increased between d1 and d7. GBS-DS, spirometry and Pmo,tw remained unaltered. Only SnPna correlated closely with the MRC-SS on both d1 (r = 0.77, p = 0.02) and d7 (r = 0.74, p = 0.02).

CONCLUSION

SnPna was the only parameter that correlated with MRC-SS, while the current gold standard of spirometry measurement did not.