Acute Onset Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy: A Case Series Of 4 Patients From Tertiary Care Center

Acute onset CIDP(A-CIDP) is an often unrecognized CIDP variant which needs differentiation from Guillain -Barre syndrome(GBS) due to its different prognostic and treatment outcomes. METHODS: We report clinical course and investigations including electrophysiology of 4 patients of A-CIDP and comparison with Electrophysiology of 20 GBS patients. RESULTS: Four patients with initial GBS like clinical presentation were later diagnosed as A-CIDP. Three patients improved with immunotherapy but had exacerbation of weakness more than 8 weeks later while one patient had subacute onset progressive weakness. These patients were further managed with steroids and maintenance immunotherapy. CONCLUSION: GBS is diagnosed on the basis of clinical and electrophysiological criteria and managed with IVIg. Although some clinical features and initial electrorophysiology can suggest the possibility of A- CIDP, the diagnosis is conrmed on follow up only.