High-dose, frequently administered interferon beta therapy for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis must be maintained over the long term: the interferon beta dose-reduction study.

Long-term trials have demonstrated the continued efficacy of interferon (IFN) beta treatment in patients with relapsing-remitting (RR) multiple sclerosis (MS) during prolonged administration. The objective of the work was to evaluate the effects of reducing IFN beta administration frequency and total weekly dose in patients with RR MS who have achieved clinical and MRI disease activity stabilization during long-term IFN beta-1b treatment. Prospective 1-year follow-up of 27 RR MS patients on long-term 250 microg every other day (standard dose) IFN beta-1b treatment were randomized either to gradually reduce dose to 30 microg once-a-week IFN beta-1a (13 patients), or to continue on IFN beta-1b standard dose (14 patients). We found significant differences in the two group of patients. In the group of patients continuously treated with IFN beta-1b standard dose, 79% remained relapse free compared to 23% in the group receiving once-weekly IFN beta-1a (p=0.006). The number of patients without new PD/T2 lesions was higher in the group of patients continuously treated with IFN beta-1b standard dose (77%) compared to the once-weekly IFN beta-1a group (23%) (p=0.04). IFN beta is a long-term treatment for MS. The reduction of IFN beta-1b administration frequency and dose is not advisable even in patients free from clinical and MRI disease activity for many years.

Intravenous immunoglobulin as first treatment in diabetics with concomitant distal symmetric axonal polyneuropathy and CIDP.

The authors investigated the impact of IVIg as first line treatment of diabetic patients suffering from chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) concomitant with distal symmetric axonal polyneuropathy. Nine patients with these clinical and electrophysiological features were treated with IVIg (0.4 g/Kg/day for 5 days). Clinical and electrophysiological evaluations were performed before and after treatment. Following IVIg treatment there was no significant improvement in clinical deficit. However, there was a significant and persistent decrease in the Rankin scale score and an improvement in the demyelinating feature on nerve conduction studies. Our findings suggest that IVIg had small but detectable beneficial effects on diabetic patients with CIDP and a high degree of axonal damage.