Development of Guillain-Barré syndrome in a patient with multiple sclerosis during treatment with glatiramer acetate

Abstract

Some observations suggest that in some patients with multiple sclerosis demyelination may affect the central and peripheral nervous systems at the same time. The influence of immunomodulatory therapy on peripheral nervous system damage in these patients is still unknown. We present a 43-year-old male patient with multiple sclerosis diagnosed at the age of 35 in whom flaccid tetraparesis with dysaesthesia preceded by paraesthesias of four limbs occurred one year after starting glatiramer acetate. The course of peripheral nervous system disease and results of cerebrospinal fluid examination and electromyography confirmed Guillain-Barré syndrome. Interfering in the immunological system, glatiramer acetate may have contributed to the development of the symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome in our patient. The final improvement of the patient's condition may have resulted not only from the applied treatment and the natural course of the disease, but may have also been associated with the discontinuation of glatiramer acetate.