Salerno, Ruggi doctors save a little girl with Guillan Barrè syndrome

Salerno.Gli ospedali sono custodi di storie, di attese cariche di dolore e di speranza.

Immediately admitted, the doctor on duty, Dr. Gragnaniello, recognized the complexity of the case. Although the first laboratory tests did not reveal significant anomalies, the little girl's clinical picture worsened the following day: she was very weak, manifested general malaise and widespread and migratory muscle pain that extended to all muscle groups.

The new clinical evaluation was accompanied by the inability to stand and a discrete muscle tone, but without osteotendinous reflexes in the lower limbs. A neurological consultation was therefore requested for suspected Guillain-Barre syndrome, an acquired polyneuropathy characterized by rapidly progressing nerve damage, often caused by loss of the myelin sheaths that surround nerve fibers.

Dr. Iovino, from the UOC of Neurology, confirmed the pediatricians' suspicions, immediately performing an electromyography (EMG), which provided further indications in favor of the diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome. This was later confirmed by spinal tap and cerebrospinal fluid examination, successfully performed by the same doctor, with the support of Doctors De Anseris and Timpone.

Thanks to a timely diagnosis and significant investigations, the little girl was administered intravenous immunoglobulins during the night from Dr. Mazzotti, who monitored and assisted the child until the morning, when her condition began to improve.

However, as a precaution, given the possibility that the syndrome could compromise the respiratory muscles, the Pediatric Resuscitation Department of the hospital was alerted. Santobono e la bambina è stata trasferita a Napoli, assistita durante il tragitto dalla dottoressa Recupero.

“It's a story like many others that we experience in our department,” the doctor tells Carolina Mauro, Director of the Pediatrics UOC of Ruggi. “Love for children pushes us to work harder and harder, in synergy, ready to question ourselves to do better every time, because the Pediatrics team works like this. It is made up of high-caliber professionals, who deserve our recognition: together they face the inevitable difficulties and, as in this case, they can save a life.”

Dr. Mauro also thanks the nursing staff, always reassuring and collaborative, and the tireless and available OSS, whose commitment facilitates the achievement of the common goal every day: the well-being of the child.