Guillain-Barré Syndrome/ Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy

Guillain-Barré (Ghee-yan Bah-ray) Syndrome is an inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.

It’s also called:

Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
Landry’s Ascending Paralysis

GBS is characterized by the rapid onset of numbness, weakness, and often paralysis of the legs, arms, breathing muscles, and face. Paralysis is ascending, meaning that it travels up the limbs from fingers and toes towards the torso. Loss of reflexes, such as the knee jerk, are usually found.

Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a rare disorder of the peripheral nerves characterized by gradually increasing sensory loss and weakness associated with loss of reflexes.

The number of new cases per year of CIDP is about 1-2 per 100,000 people, but as the disease can be present in a person for years prior to diagnosis, the prevalence reflecting the accumulation of cases over time may be as high as 9 per 100,000 in some areas.

CIDP is caused by damage to the covering of the nerves, called myelin. It can start at any age and is more frequent in men than women.