Postural Hypotension in the Guillain-Barre Syndrome

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Abstract
Postinfectious polyradiculitis, acute idiopathic polyneuritis, or acute infective polyneuritis, commonly called the Guillain-Barré syndrome, has been associated with a variety of circulatory abnormalities including hypertension, hypotension, rapid fluctuations in blood pressure, and cardiac arrhythmias.1-3 Autonomic dysfunction has been suggested as a cause of these abnormalities, but only recently has objective evidence of impaired autonomic function been demonstrated.4-6 Postural hypotension is often the result of autonomic nervous system insufficiency and has been associated with numerous neurological diseases, including neuropathies of diverse etiology, but with only one detailed report of postural hypotension with the Guillain-Barré syndrome.7-10 This study was prompted by observations on a patient in whom postural hypotension was the first sign of an incipient postinfectious polyradiculitis. Since the first patient, five more patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome have been seen and tested for postural hypotension. This presentation is about the patients with postural hypotension, their clinical course