Annals of neurology
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Taxol is a promising new antitumor drug with therapeutic use that is limited by a toxic sensory neuropathy. Taxol is also cytotoxic to dorsal root ganglion neurons in vitro, but this effect is prevented by cotreatment with the trophic protein, nerve growth factor. ⋯ Coadministration of nerve growth factor prevented all of these signs of neurotoxicity. These findings suggest that administration of nerve growth factor may prevent certain toxic sensory neuropathies.
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Annals of neurology · Dec 1990
ReviewChemotherapy for medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the posterior fossa.
Chemotherapy has only marginal efficacy in adult malignant brain tumors. In contrast, drug therapy is considerably more effective in medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumors (MB/PNET) of the posterior fossa, the most common childhood primary central nervous system tumor. ⋯ It remains to be determined which drug or drug combinations are the most effective in MB/PNET, and which patients are most likely to benefit from chemotherapy. Chemotherapy may be useful to reduce or, in selected cases, obviate the need for radiotherapy and reduce treatment-related sequelae.
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Annals of neurology · Sep 1989
Case ReportsIntermittent obstructive hydrocephalus in the Arnold-Chiari malformation.
A 26-year-old woman with a Chiari-I malformation and intermittent symptoms of intracranial pressure elevation is described. Clinically, papilledema was accompanied by midperipheral retinal hemorrhages. ⋯ Posterior fossa-directed magnetic resonance image scanning revealed the Chiari-I malformation. Intraventricular monitoring was necessary to demonstrate the marked but unsustained elevation of intracranial pressure.
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Based on the assumption that multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease, a number of clinical trials designed to suppress the immune system or to restore immune balance in multiple sclerosis have been attempted. Depending on the disease category, the clinical goals of immunotherapy differ. Therapeutic goals include improving recovery from acute attacks, preventing or decreasing the number of relapses, and halting the disease in its progressive stage. ⋯ Present treatment modalities are beginning to show some efficacy of nonspecific immunosuppression, but these treatments are limited by their toxicities. As the immunotherapy of multiple sclerosis moves to the next stage in the coming years, patients at an earlier stage of their disease will have to be treated, nontoxic forms of therapy developed, clinical trials lengthened, and a laboratory monitor of the disease developed. Given the positive effects of immunotherapy seen thus far in the disease, it is possible that appropriate immunotherapeutic intervention may provide effective treatment for the disease in the future.