Atorvastatin-induced Guillain-Barre Syndrome - A Case Report -

J Korean Assoc EMG Electrodiagn Med 2009;11(2):174-177.
Published online December 31, 2009.

Abstract

The Guillain-Barre syndrome is most frequently triggered by infection, vaccination, surgical treatment, or malignancy, but unusually occurred by statin therapy. A 68-year old women who had dyslipidemia during 3-years was admitted to the hospital due to traffic accident. she had continuously took the medicine (Atorvastatin) for dyslipidema, but recent six months ago she stopped the medication. After admission for traffic accident, she restarted the medicine for the second time. Six days later, she suffered drowsy, mental change with motor weakness and sensory change on both upper and lower limbs. Serum Ig E, cerebrospinal fluid Ig G and protein were increased, but MR brain images, viral marker, cancer marker did not demonstrate abnormal findings. The electrodiagnostic studies for diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome showed polyradiculoneuropathy. We stopped a statin therapy with use of intravenous immunoglobulin. She improved rapidly after treatment. We report a case of Guillain-Barre syndrome just after taking Atorvastatin, which showed abnormal neurologic findings inducing progressive motor weakness, sensory change on extremities.

Key Words: Guillain-Barre syndrome, Atorvastatin