An Overlapping Case of Miller Fisher Syndrome and the Pharyngeal-Cervical-Brachial Variant of Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

Abstract

A 55-year-old Caucasian male presented initially to the emergency room (ER) reporting myalgia, chills and fever. Physical examination and laboratory tests were unremarkable and he was discharged with symptomatic care. He returned to our ER 2 weeks later reporting dizziness, loss of balance, blurred vision, mild dysarthria and bilateral hand paraesthesia. On examination, he presented complete bilateral ophthalmoplegia, mild dysarthria, left finger-to-nose dysmetria, ataxia, areflexia and bilateral hand hypoaesthesia without fever. Blood tests and head computed tomography were normal. The patient was admitted to the Internal Medicine department. On the second day on the ward, the patient presented dysphagia. A head magnetic resonance angiogram showed no signs of ischaemia or vascular disease and a lumbar puncture was performed but no pleocytosis, albumin-cytological dissociation or hypoglycorrhachia was present. Despite the normal results we suspected a Guillain-Barré syndrome variant, and started treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) at a dose of 400 mg per kilogram which continued for 5 days with immediate neurological improvement. We present a rare overlapping case of Miller Fisher syndrome and the pharyngeal-cervical-brachial variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome.LEARNING POINTSThe overlap of Miller Fisher syndrome and pharyngeal-cervical-brachial variants of Guillain-Barré syndrome are rarely described in the literature but should be considered when multiple cranial nerves are involved with normal neuroimaging results, even with normal cerebrospinal fluid analysis.Due to similar clinical presentation, a misdiagnosis of cerebral ischaemia, botulism or ocular myasthenia gravis can delay treatment and put patients at risk.In its natural history, this syndrome evolves to respiratory arrest and death, but with accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment, the prognosis improves considerably.