| Study | Reason for exclusion |
|---|---|
| Fasanaro 1992 | Not a RCT. Retrospective study of 26 patients treated with PE and 7 treated with IVIg who had contraindications to PE. IVIg‐treated patients recovered to unaided walking in a mean (SD) of 15 (7) days compared with 56 (69) days, but this excluded 1 patient who died in the IVIg group and 5 who died in the PE group. The groups were not comparable at the start of treatment |
| Horstkotte 1992 | Not a RCT. A retrospective study of using IVIg (including IgG, IgA and IgM) to prevent sepsis after PE in 28 patients, 12 of whom had GBS. Among 14 patients treated without IVIg there were 4 deaths and 9 had septicaemia; in 14 treated with IVIg, 1 died and 3 had septicaemias |
| Hosokawa 1998 | Unclear whether a randomised trial or not: 15 participants with GBS or postinfectious cranial neuritis were divided into two groups: 7 received IVIg and 8 underwent PE. There was no difference between the groups in the rate of recovery of muscle strength at 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks |
| Kanra 1997 | Not a RCT, but a retrospective study. Twenty‐four children in Canada received IVIg 1 g/kg daily for 2 days and 23 in Turkey 0.4 g/kg daily for 5 days. Twenty‐eight more patients in Turkey received no IVIg and had supportive care only. The mean time to recover 1 grade was 17 days in the Canadian IVIg group, 21 days in the Turkish IVIg group and significantly longer, 62 days P < 0.01, in the Turkish no IVIg group |
| Koul 2003 | Not a RCT. A prospective study of 42 children all treated with IVIg. 7 patients required ventilation. There were no deaths |
| Kuwabara 2001 | Not a RCT. 86 consecutive GBS patients included, 24 with anti‐ganglioside GM1 antibodies: 6 of 10 treated with IVIg recovered 2 or more GBS disability grades in 1 month compared with 3 of 14 treated with PE (P = 0.03) |
| Ravasio 1995 | Not a RCT |
| Reisin 1996 | Not a RCT, but a retrospective study. 4 children with unexcitable nerves treated with IVIg 1.9 g/kg fared no differently from 5 children treated without (historical controls). The time to reach unaided walking was 219 days in those treated with IVIg and 156 days in those not so treated |
| Yélamos 1998 | Not stated whether a randomised trial or not, but the unequal numbers strongly suggest that it was not. 17 adult participants were treated with IVIg and 7 with PE. The groups were similar before starting treatment. The IVIg participants recovered 1 grade significantly faster than the PE participants |
GBS: Guillain‐Barré syndrome Ig: immunoglobulin IVIg: intravenous immunoglobulin PE: plasma exchange RCT: randomised controlled trial SD: standard deviation