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Acute oropharyngeal palsy is associated with antibodies to GQ1b and GT1a gangliosides.
  1. C P O'Leary,
  2. J Veitch,
  3. W F Durward,
  4. A M Thomas,
  5. J H Rees,
  6. H J Willison
  1. Department of Neurology, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, UK.

    Abstract

    Three patients with acute oropharyngeal palsy had high titre anti-GQ1b and anti-GT1a IgG antibodies. No patients had ophthalmoplegia or ptosis. In all patients limb ataxia or areflexia were present without notable limb weakness. These patients describe an oropharyngeal variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome in terms of anti-GQ1b antibody reactivity and show that high titre anti-GQ1b antibodies, serologically indistinguishable from those found in Miller Fisher syndrome, can occur in a clinical setting without ophthalmoplegia. The anti-GQ1b and anti-GT1a antibody assays may be helpful tests when considering the differential diagnosis of acute oropharyngeal palsy.

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