Guillain-Barré syndrome in the 100 years since its description by Guillain, Barré and Strohl

Landry’s 1859 description of 10 cases of acute ascending paralysis fitted well with the modern concept of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) but necessarily lacked the defining features of tendon areflexia and CSF albuminocytological dissocation (Landry, 1859). Westphal and Erb described examination of the patellar tendon reflex in 1875 and examination of this and other reflexes rapidly entered regular neurological practice (Erb, 1875; Westphal, 1875; Boes, 2014). Quincke (1891) introduced lumbar puncture for the management of hydrocephalus in 1891. These discoveries set the stage for the seminal paper of Guillain, Barre and Strohl in 1916 (Guillain et al. , 1916). A meeting of the Inflammatory Neuropathy Consortium of the Peripheral Nerve Society in Glasgow from 21–24 June 2016 (www.pnsociety.com/inflammatory-neuropathy-consortium) celebrated its centenary. A 63-chapter companion book records the centennial reflections of the speakers and others (Willison and Goodfellow, 2016).Guillain, G., Barre, J.A., u0026 Strohl, A. 1916. Sur un syndrome de radiculo-nevrite avec hyperalbuminose du liquide cephalo-rachidien sans reaction cellulaire. Remarques sur les caracteres cliniques et graphiques des reflexes tendineux. Bull Soc Med Hop Paris, 40, 1462–70 On 13 October 1916, during the battle of the Somme, members of the Societe de Neurologie serving in the French Army held a meeting where Guillain, Barre and Strohl described two soldiers with weakness of the limbs. ‘The first soldier D… of the hussars, 25 years old, arrived at the neurological centre of the Sixth Army because of motor disturbances of the lower and upper limbs on the 20th August 1916. The illness began on 25th July with tingling of the feet and weakness of the lower limbs making him stop walking after 200 to 300 metres. The tingling then spread to the upper limbs and lower part of the face during the following days and he developed weakness in …