“Claw hand with a unilateral onset” as a regional variant of Guillain-Barre’ syndrome: A case report
Rationale:
Although distal nerves located at sites prone to compression are susceptible to autoimmune attack, Guillain-Barre’ syndrome (GBS) with exclusive hand muscle involvement is rarely found in clinics. All reported patients presented with a special variant - finger extensor weakness, especially claw hand caused by predominant ulnar extensor involvement. Similar to typical GBS, these patients showed bilateral symmetric onset with rapid clinical progression.
Patient concerns:
A 62-year-old man with GBS was admitted to our hospital with unilateral onset of claw hand. He showed relatively slow progression and did not develop bilateral symmetric claw hands until 6 weeks later.
Diagnoses:
Eventually the patient was diagnosed as having a regional variant of GBS by neuronal electrophysiology and cerebrospinal fluid examinations.
Interventions:
This patient was treated with intravenous thrombolysis within 4.5 hours of onset. Eventually he was diagnosed as having a regional variant of GBS and was treated with gamma-globulin (400 mg/kg/d) for 5 consecutive days via intravenous infusion.
Outcomes:
The patient had a slow recovery with persistent mild finger extensor weakness.
Lessons:
This patient presented with unilateral onset of claw hand, and the diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke could not be excluded because of a short time window; hence, he was treated with intravenous thrombolysis within 4.5 hours of onset. Eventually he was diagnosed as having a reg...
Source: Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Tags: Research Article: Clinical Case Report Source Type: research
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