About 30% of patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome become ventilator dependent, of whom roughly 75% develop pneumonia. This trial aimed at assessing the impact of early mechanical ventilation (EMV) on pneumonia occurrence in GBS patients. We hypothesize that EMV will reduce the incidence of pneumonia.

This was a single centre, open-label, randomized controlled trial performed on two parallel groups. 50 intensive care unit adults admitted for Guillain-Barré syndrome and at risk for acute respiratory failure. Patients were randomized to early mechanical ventilation via face-mask or endotracheal intubation owing to the presence or absence of impaired swallowing (experimental arm), or to conventional care (control arm). The primary outcome was the incidence of pneumonia up to intensive care unit discharge (or 90 days, pending of which occurred first).

Twenty-five patients were randomized in each group. There was no significant difference between groups for the incidence of pneumonia (10/25 (40%) vs 9/25 (36%), P  = 1). There was no significant difference between groups for the time to onset of pneumonia ( P  = 0.50, Gray test). During follow-up, there were 16/25 (64%) mechanically ventilated patients in the control group, and 25/25 (100%) in the experimental arm ( P   <  000·1). The time on ventilator was non-significantly shorter in the experimental arm (14 [7; 29] versus 21.5 [17.3; 35.5], P  = 0.10). There were no significant differences between groups for length of hospital stay, neurological scores, the proportion of patients who needed tracheostomy, in-hospital death, or any serious adverse events.

In the present study including adults with Guillain-Barré syndrome at high risk of respiratory failure, we did not observe a prevention of pneumonia with early mechanical ventilation. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov under the number NCT00167622. Registered 9 September 2005, NCT00167622?cond=Guillain-Barre+Syndrome&cntry=FR&draw=2&rank=1