RESUMEN
ABSTRACT Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is the most frequent cause of acute flaccid paralysis and if not diagnosed and treated timely, a significant cause of long-term disability. Incidence in Latin America ranges from 0.71 to 7.63 cases/100,000 person-years. Historically, GBS has been linked to infections (mainly gastrointestinal by Campylobacter jejuni) and vaccines (including those against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]); however, a trigger cannot be detected in most cases. Regarding SARS-CoV-2, epidemiological studies have found no association with its development. Acute motor axonal neuropathy is the most common electrophysiological variant in Mexico and Asian countries. Intravenous immunoglobulin or plasma exchanges are still the treatment cornerstones. Mortality in Mexico can be as high as 12%. Advances in understanding the drivers of nerve injury in GBS that may provide the basis for developing targeted therapies have been made during the past decade; despite them, accurate criteria for selecting patients requiring acute treatment, prognostic biomarkers, and novel therapies are still needed. The newly-developed vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have raised concerns regarding the potential risk for developing GBS. In the midst of coronavirus disease 2019 and vaccination campaigns against SARS-CoV-2, this review discusses the epidemiology, clinical presentation, management, and outcomes of GBS in Mexico.
RESUMEN
ABSTRACT Background: The recognition of stroke symptoms by patients or bystanders directly affects the outcomes of patients with acute cerebrovascular disease. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the predictive value of the medical history and clinical features recognized by the patients bystanders to classify neurovascular syndromes in pre-hospital settings. Methods: We included 150 stroke patients of two Mexican referral centers: 50 with acute ischemic stroke (AIS), 50 with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and 50 with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The performance of clinical prediction rules (CPR) to identify the stroke types was evaluated with features recognized by the patients bystanders before hospital arrival. The impact of CPRs on early arrival and in-hospital mortality was also analyzed. Results: Overall, 72% of the patients had previous medical evaluations in other centers before final referral to our hospitals, and therefore, only 45% had a final onset-to-door time <6 h, even when the first medical assessment had occurred in ≤1 h in 75% of cases. Clinical features noticed by the patients bystanders had low positive predictive values (PPV) for any stroke type. The CPR language or speech disorder + focal motor deficit had 93% sensitivity and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 84% to distinguish AIS. In SAH, headache alone showed a sensitivity of 84% and NPV of 97%. No CPR had an adequate performance on ICH. CPRs were not associated with final onset-to-door time. Altered consciousness, age ≥65 years, indirect arrival with stops before final referral, and atrial fibrillation increased in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: Clinical features referred by the witness of a neurovascular emergency have limited PPV, but adequate NPV in ruling-out AIS and SAH among stroke types. The use of CPRs had no impact on onset-to-door time or in-hospital mortality when the final arrival to a third-level center occurs with previous medical referrals.