A clinicopathological study of the Guillain-Barré syndrome. Nine cases and literature review.

The postmortem findings are reported from 9 cases of the Guillain-Barré syndrome with survival between 10 days and 1 yr. In 8 cases there was multifocal loss of myelin throughout the peripheral nervous system with relative preservation of axons. In 1 case there was predominant loss of axons. Inflammatory mononuclear cell infiltration was present in the peripheral nervous system of all cases except 1 case surviving a year. The extent and severity of cell infiltration was variable, usually being less prominent than in previous reports, and sometimes sparing nerves in which myelin destruction was severe. Vesicular dissolution of myelin noted by electron microscopy was considered to be a postmortem artefact. In cases examined within 30 days after the onset, immunohistochemical studies with monoclonal antibodies identified more leucocytes (PD7/2B11+) and T cells (UCHL1+) in the endoneurium than in cases examined later or control cases. These findings and recent single case reports indicate that the pathology of the Guillian-Barré syndrome is variable. This variability may reflect differences in pathogenesis, with greater cell-mediated immunity in some cases and greater antibody targeted macrophage-mediated demyelination in others.