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Some patients complained that their symptoms were made worse - fatigue 20%, leg weakness 5%, visual disturbance 3% and limb numbness 1%, but were only short lived. Minor problems with pressure on the eardrums occurred in 17%, but did not necessitate stopping treatment.
Many patients lost their improvements within a week or two. Four hundred and sixty-four patients (66%) who completed the initial course continued with treatment for at least three years as they found that their condition was stabilised, or the previous rate of deterioration retarded. On the other hand, 239 patients (34%) abandoned the treatment at intervals. Of these 25 later returned.
Thirty six patients (7 Relapsing/Remitting, 24 Chronic progressive and 5 Chronic static) did not have any further treatment and after 6 years, 24 (67%) had deteriorated by a mean of 1.8 on the Kurtzke scale.
The rate of deterioration was related to the frequency of treatment. As might be expected, patients in the early stages of the disease (Relapsing/Remitting) did best as there is less irreversible damage in the nervous tissue. None of these (mean initial KDS 2.3) who had received at least eight treatments in every quarter over 6 years had deteriorated. Indeed, four had actually improved by a mean of 0.8 on the Kurtzke scale.
Figure 2. The change in Kurtzke value related to the number of treatments in 10 - 13 years
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A third survey was conducted after 10 - 13 years. By then 126 patients had died (8% were over 60 years old when first treated), 99 were lost to follow up, 29 had suffered injuries that affected their Kurtzke value and two had their diagnosis revised. Therefore 447 remained for analysis. The extent of deterioration clearly depends on the frequency and duration of treatment (Figure 2).
Thirty eight of these patients had received less than 10 follow-on treatments and had deteriorated by 3.18 on the KDS. It is therefore evident that with an adequate dosage, progressive deterioration can be retarded.
Further Patient Analysis
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