Guillain Barre syndrome in children: clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, and the results of steroid treatment.

We report 28 cases diagnosed as GBS in the Department of Child Health, Medical School, University of Indonesia, DR. Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in 7 years period. There were 17 males and 11 females with a ratio of 1.5:1. The age ranged from 9 months to 9.5 years, with a mean age of 4.57 +/- 2.36 years. Twelve (42.86%) cases were preceded by acute respiratory infection, 8 (28.57%) cases by non specific fever, 1 (9.57%) case by gastrointestinal tract infection and 7 (25%) cases did not have any history of acute infection. The clinical manifestations were motor weakness (100%), cranial nerves involvement (14.29%) and disturbance of sensation (17.80%). Most cases (92.86%) showed albuminocytologic dissociation feature with the CSF protein content more than 40 mg/dl. The number of cells was less than 10 cells/mm3 in 96.43% of cases. The specific NCV feature (peripheral NCV decrease) was found in 96.15% of patients and only 1 patient (3.85%) showed normal peripheral NCV. The severity of the disease was in accordance with the prognosis later. Corticosteroid was not beneficial in the treatment of GBS.