The differentiation of peripheral effector neuron failure from acute brain stem dysfunction in a critically ill patient.

A patient appeared to be in coma following pneumococcal meningitis, an intracerebral haemorrhage, and a cardiac arrest. Late in the course of his illness neurophysiological investigations confirmed a proposal that he also had a fulminant acute demyelinating polyneuropathy which, for a period of five days, rendered the patient completely unresponsive. The patient recovered and is now working without any disability.