1. A 14-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital with inability to walk since the morning when she fell down in the bathroom. When she was seen in the ER at 1 PM she was conscious and oriented but could not use her hands or legs. She was admitted and laboratory investigations were ordered. By 2 PM she developed difficulty breathing and required emergency tracheal intubation and ventilatory support. Which of the following statements about her condition is false?

1. She has Acute Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
2. The Neuropathy she is having usually spares sensory nerves
3. Plasmapheresis can be life saving in her condition
4. In the long run this disease converts to Chronic Demyelinating Polyneuropathy.

Answer: The correct answer is (d). Acute demyelinating polyneuropathy does not convert to chronic disease in the long run. The two are different conditions. AIDP or Guillain-Barré syndrome presents as an acute onset of distal motor neuropathy, which rapidly ascends and involved the respiratory muscles in severe cases as in this patient. It spares the sensory nerves early in the course but in the later stages some amount of tingling and paresthesias set in. Plasmapheresis is an approved treatment for GBS. It can be life saving in cases like this.