Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with COVID-19 infection – Case Report and literature review

Abstract

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare, acute immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy that accounts for an estimated 100,000 new cases annually worldwide. The typical clinical manifestations of the disease are progressive, ascending paralysis, classically involving bilateral upper and lower extremities. In most patients, the acute onset of neurological symptoms is preceded by an infectious respiratory or gastrointestinal illness. The case is presented of a 50-year-old man who was transferred to an intensive care unit from the Department of Neurology, due to a worsening state of bilateral weakness of limbs, with symptoms of respiratory failure and hemodynamic instability. Guillain-Barré syndrome was diagnosed in the previous clinic on the basis of the typical symptoms and results of cerebrospinal fluid, in which albuminocytological dissociation was detected. Furthermore, two weeks previously, the patient had been infected with COVID-19.