Thermal thresholds and motor sensory conduction measurements in Guillain Barré syndrome: 12-month follow-up study.

We performed serial neurophysiological tests in 22 patients with confirmed Guillain Barré syndrome (GBS) for 12 months following onset of the disease. Twenty-five age- and sex-matched healthy controls were also tested. Tests included nerve conduction and automated quantitative thermal threshold measurements. The commonest early abnormality was delayed distal motor latency, F wave abnormality and abnormal thermal threshold measurements in 1 or more nerves. Further abnormalities of all measurements were observed during maximum disability. After 12 months, all measured parameters returned to normal levels in the majority of patients except the thermal thresholds which remained abnormal in a large proportion of asymptomatic patients. The findings are suggestive of an early pathological involvement of the smaller nerve fibres with slow recovery in GBS.