This is a retrospective analysis of 51 patients admitted to the Hospital de Base do Distrito Federal (Brasilia, Brazil), with the Guillain-Barré syndrome, from 1974 to 1984. Eighteen patients were treated with corticosteroids (prednisone or dexamethasone), whereas 33 did not receive such treatment. The clinical course (degree of recovery, sequelae, complications, causa mortis) and the length of the hospital stay were compared in these two groups. It is concluded that the use of corticosteroids did not have a major effect on the clinical course of the illness. Moreover, the only two cases of relapses occurred in patients that had been treated with corticosteroids.