Guillain-Barré Syndrome is described as

Prepare for the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Test. Study with interactive quizzes and detailed explanations. Boost your exam readiness with our diverse question formats and in-depth content coverage.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is an autoimmune attack on the peripheral nerves leading to inflammation and demyelination. It typically follows an infection and progresses rapidly over days to weeks, with weakness that starts in the legs and ascends upward, often accompanied by areflexia. Because the damage is to peripheral nerve myelin, nerve conduction studies show demyelinating features and patients may have elevated CSF protein with a normal cell count. This combination—rapid progression, inflammatory demyelination of the peripheral nerves, and ascending paralysis—best describes the condition. It is not a chronic central nervous system demyelinating disease, not a bacterial infection of muscle, and not a degenerative motor neuron disease.