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Guillan - Barre Syndrome

Investigation.

NICE

No guidance on diagnosis 2021.

CKS

No entry 2021

Dynamed 2021 1

Radiology not listed in the diagnostic section and not listed in the 'Brighton Collaberation'.
They use degrees of certainty from low to high. With a high one including : - Clinical diagnosis ( defined in the document ), - CSF WCC <50 & protein raised. - Electrophysiology in keeping with Diagnosis.

Differential Diagnosis 1

Divided into: [This does not look like a great Diff]

  1. Neuromuscular / Neurological
  2. Brainstem / Cord Compression.
  3. Transverse Myelitis / ADEM .
  4. Acute onset of CIDP ( or now called CIDM).
  5. ALS
  6. Encephalitis
  7. Leptomeningeal malignancy
  8. Muscular Condition
  9. Dermatomyositis
  10. Mitochondrial Disease
  11. Polymyositis.
  12. Acute Rhabdomyolysis.
  13. Acute Porphyria.
  14. DM (??).
  15. Vasculitis.
  16. Infections
  17. Botulinism
  18. Lyme
  19. HIV
  20. Polio
  21. West Nile encephalomyelitis
  22. Metabolic & Nutrional.
  23. Hypoglycaemia
  24. Hypokalaemia
  25. Hypermagnesemia
  26. Hypophosphataemia
  27. Thiamine Deficiency = Wernkckes.
  28. Medication & Toxins.
  29. Alcohol Intoxication.
  30. Animal toxins = tick, snakes
  31. Arsenic, lead and other heavy metal poisoning.
  32. Hexacarbon abuse. = Glues.
  33. OPs.
  34. Others.

So, looking at that. The main role for imaging is going to be:
Structural lesions in the cervical spine and possibly lower such as myelitis, external compression.

  1. DynaMed [Internet]. Ipswich (MA): EBSCO Information Services. 1995 - . Record No. T116758, Guillain-Barre Syndrome; 2021/08/17. ↩↩