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One does not like to speak ill of the dead, but unfortunately
Ganong's pride in his 1952 paper on steroids in Guillain-Barre syndrome
(GBS), which he believed "introduced a treatment that proved successful",
has not withstood the test of time. The current American Academy of
Neurology practice parameter for the immunotherapy of GBS (1) notes that
steroid treatment given alone is not beneficial, and hence corticosteroids
are not recommended for the management of GBS.
Reference
[1] Hughes RAC, Wijdicks EFM, Barohn R et al. Practice parameter:
immunotherapy for Guillain-barre syndrome: report of the Quality Standards
Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neuroogy 2003;61:736-
40.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
11 March 2008
Andrew J Larner
Consultant Neurologist
Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Liverpool, L9 7LJ
Steroids in GBS
One does not like to speak ill of the dead, but unfortunately Ganong's pride in his 1952 paper on steroids in Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), which he believed "introduced a treatment that proved successful", has not withstood the test of time. The current American Academy of Neurology practice parameter for the immunotherapy of GBS (1) notes that steroid treatment given alone is not beneficial, and hence corticosteroids are not recommended for the management of GBS.
Reference [1] Hughes RAC, Wijdicks EFM, Barohn R et al. Practice parameter: immunotherapy for Guillain-barre syndrome: report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neuroogy 2003;61:736- 40.
Competing interests: None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests