Abstract
Critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP) of varying severity has been described in association with several disorders such as sepsis and multiple organ failure syndrome. Unexplained difficulty in weaning a patient from the ventilator, weakness of limbs and reduced or absent tendon reflexes are the early clinical signs of CIP. In the severe form, there is quadriplegia and respiratory paralysis with relative sparing of the cranial musculature. It is difficult to differentiate CIP from Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) on purely clinical grounds as both conditions may present with a similar clinical picture. As this disorder is relatively rare, and as no similar cases have been reported in Saudi Arabia, we present the following case report of CIP masquerading as GBS.