PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Borhani-Haghighi, Afshin
AU  - Ghodsi, Maryam
AU  - Razeghinejad, Mohammad R.
AU  - Mardani, Samira
AU  - Mardani, Mohsen
AU  - Nikseresht, Ali R.
AU  - Safari, Anahid
AU  - Bagheri, Mohammad H.
TI  - Erythropoietin for acute multiple sclerosis in patients with optic neuritis as a first demyelination event
DP  - 2012 Apr 01
TA  - Neurosciences Journal
PG  - 151--155
VI  - 17
IP  - 2
4099  - http://nsj.org.sa/content/17/2/151.short
4100  - http://nsj.org.sa/content/17/2/151.full
SO  - Neurosciences (Riyadh)2012 Apr 01; 17
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the safety, tolerability, and short-term efficacy of treatment with erythropoietin in patients with optic neuritis as a first demyelination event.METHODS: We conducted this randomized double-blind pilot study in the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, from March 2007 to January 2009. The participants were patients aged 18-45 years with optic neuritis and at least 3 hyperintense lesions on T2-weighted and FLAIR MRI, but no clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS). They were randomized into 2 groups. The case group (5 patients) received intravenous methyl prednisolone (1000 mg/24 hours) and intravenous erythropoietin (20,000 unit/24 hours) for 5 consecutive days, and the control group (5 patients) received intravenous methyl prednisolone at the same dose as the case group, and a placebo. The groups were followed for one year and compared for adherence to protocol, adverse drug effects, mean duration of conversion to clinically definite MS, and MRI changes.RESULTS: All patients tolerated the protocol. One patient who received erythropoietin developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and anti-cardiolipin antibody positivity. One patient in the control group, but no patients in the case group, fulfilled the McDonald criteria for MS during the follow-up period, but none of the participants in either group developed clinically definite MS according to the Poser criteria.CONCLUSION: Erythropoietin may be effective, but should be used with caution.