Outcomes for patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome requiring mechanical ventilation: a literature review

Background This is a literature review of outcomes for patients with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) who require admission to the intensive care unit for mechanical ventilation. Respiratory distress is the leading cause of death in the acute phase, and occurs in about 25 % of patients. Aims The aim of this review is to compile, analyse, and summarise the most relevant literature looking at outcomes for Guillain-Barre (GB) patients requiring admission to the intensive care unit and mechanical ventilation. Methods A PubMed and Google-Scholar literature search was performed using the key words 'Guillain-Barre, Outcomes, Mechanical Ventilation, Prognosis, Mortality, ICU. All 7 papers from the years 2000-2014 which assessed outcomes for GBS patients requiring mechanical ventilation were included, and critically analysed. Results The parameters recorded by these studies looked at mortality, disability, length of hospitalisation, and complications. The mortality of GB patients requiring mechanical ventilation varied from 8.3 to 20 %, Disability was primarily measured by the GBS disability scale. One study deemed that a score of 0-1 was a positive outcome, and found that slightly over half 53.8 % of the patients fulfilled that criteria. Over half of the mechanically ventilated patients were required to be admitted for over 3 weeks. Complications during ICU admission are common, with bed-sores (40 %), pneumonia (30.2 %) and sepsis (17.4) being the most frequently encountered in one study. Conclusion Accurate data are limited by the fact that these studies are retrospective, often covering long periods in the past. Larger, more recent, prospective, multi-centre studies will be required.