Weakness after gastric bypass

Abstract

Two patients underwent gastric bypasses and had uneventful hospital courses. In the early postoperative periods, both developed severe, protracted vomiting, weakness, and hyporeflexia. After thorough laboratory and clinical evaluations by neurologists, the patients were diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, although there were many atypical features. The clinical presentations of these patients are very similar to case reports of nutritional polyneuropathy associated with gastric partitioning. This paper addresses the difficulties of differentiating these two diagnoses.