Introduction:Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a demyelinating polyneuropathy characterized by progressive symmetric motor weakness with reduced or absent deep tendon reflexes.Clinical features, CSF analysis and electro–diagnostic studies aids in diagnosis.Methods:This study included patients with GBS admitted to a tertiary care center in South India for 3 years from June 2013. Data pertaining to history, examination and laboratory reports were obtained from medical records and captured into a pre–formatted data sheet and was analysed usingSPSS v20.0.Results:Among the 48 patients (31 males, 17 females) included in this study, 31% had no antecedent illness, while 30% had history of a non–specific febrile illness prior to onset of symptoms. The mean duration between the antecedent event and onset of weaknesswas 6.75 days. Areflexia and quadriparesis were the most common clinical features. The incidence of cranial nerve involvement was highly variable, facial nerve being the commonest. Ten patients progressed to develop respiratory paresis and needed mechanical ventilation. Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP) was the commonest variant (57%), followed by acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN, 21%) andacute sensorimotor axonal neuropathy(AMSAN, 19%). There was no statistically significant association between age, gender, type of GBS, mode of treatment and final outcome, though IvIg and plasmapheresis decreased the mean duration of hospital stay by approximately 10 days compared to those managed conservatively alone.

Conclusion:Areflexia and quadriparesis were the commonest presenting features. IVIg and plasmapheresis hasten recovery but did not alter the outcome.