A Young Woman With Ulcerative Colitis Presenting With Facial Diplegia, a Variant of Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

BACKGROUND Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the colon. Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an immune-mediated disease of the peripheral nervous system. GBS can present as a rare extraintestinal manifestation of UC when in remission or relapse. Herein, we report an uncommon case of a young woman with underlying ulcerative colitis, who developed facial diplegia as a rare variant of Guillain-Barre syndrome. CASE REPORT We describe the case of a 22-year-old woman who presented with sudden onset bilateral facial weakness during a relapse of UC. Cerebrospinal fluid showed albuminocytological dissociation and electromyography suggested an isolated lesion of the bilateral facial nerves. Diagnosis of facial diplegia variant of GBS was finally confirmed, and intravenous immunoglobulin therapy was given. However, only partial improvement was achieved. CONCLUSIONS This case shows that isolated facial diplegia, a variant of GBS, can occur in patients with UC as a neurological extraintestinal manifestation, which not been previously reported, suggesting that UC can be an underling cause or predisposing factor for bilateral facial palsy. We believe that this case report and literature review will encourage prompt diagnosis and accurate treatment of co-existent GBS and UC.