Opsoclonus in a patient with Guillain-Barré syndrome

Acta Neurol Scand. 1992 May;85(5):363-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1992.tb04061.x.

Abstract

A 54 year-old woman showed the unusual association of a Guillain-Barré syndrome and opsoclonus, a rare eye movement characterized by involuntary bursts of jerking, ataxic and multidirectional saccades, without an intersaccadic interval. Since opsoclonus is a phenomenon described exclusively in CNS diseases, the case reported supports the hypothesis of CNS involvement in some cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome. The latter is generally considered an immune-mediated disease and an immune pathogenesis is also supposed in opsoclonus associated with systemic malignancies; besides, in the patient reported, the self-limiting nature of the disturbance and the lack of MRI lesions suggest that opsoclonus may result from an immune-related phenomenon causing a functional and transitory dysfunction of the CNS.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Brain Stem / pathology
  • Central Nervous System Diseases / complications
  • Central Nervous System Diseases / physiopathology
  • Electrooculography
  • Eye Diseases / etiology
  • Eye Diseases / pathology
  • Eye Diseases / physiopathology
  • Eye Movements
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immune System Diseases / complications
  • Immune System Diseases / physiopathology
  • Immunoglobulin G / cerebrospinal fluid
  • Immunoglobulin M / cerebrospinal fluid
  • Middle Aged
  • Neural Conduction
  • Polyradiculoneuropathy / etiology
  • Polyradiculoneuropathy / physiopathology*

Substances

  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Immunoglobulin M