Abstract
To investigate a change of muscle fatigability in patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) in improvement of muscle strength, we examined muscle force and electromyogram during sustained maximal voluntary contractions at two different times of disease course, and compared with those of 19 healthy subjects. Approximately two months after onset, GBS patients showed significantly lower values in both the force and integrated electromyogram (IEMG), compared with healthy subjects, especially within 50 days after onset. But approximately three months after onset, there was no significant differences in the force and change pattern of IEMG between GBS patients and healthy subjects. These results suggest that high muscle fatigability of GBS patients in the early stage may improve with an increase of muscle strength, reaching the same level as healthy subjects within approximately three months after onset.
