Therapeutic effects of Mitoxantrone in Multiple Sclerosis patients with schizophrenia

Kountouris Dimitrios,M.D. Center of Neurological Diagnosis,Athens, Greece The hypothesis that schizophrenia may be caused by organic reasons goes back a century. The possibility of the coexistence or unified nature of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and schizophrenia should be explored. In an effort to investigate the possible relationship between the two illnesses, 8 patients were clinically and psychiatrically studied, for a two-year period, after they were diagnosed with simultaneously MS and schizophrenia. Specifically, the EDSS- Kurtzke scale was used for the clinical evaluation and the psychiatric symptoms were recorded, before the patients were put on a MITOXANTRONE therapy 80-100 mg total dose, which lasted one year. A year after the end of treatment the patients` clinical and psychological profiles were reevaluated. It was found that 2 years after the beginning of the treatment the symptoms of both illnesses subsided. The frequency of the symptoms was reduced for both illness at the same time approximately at an 80% rate. In general, it was found that beyond the proven benefits of MITOXANTRONE in MS patients it also have a positive effect on patients with schizophrenia which leads to the question of whether the two illnesses may coexist. Abstract published in Abstract book of International Congress NEW TRENDS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA:TEN YEARS LATER. Paper presented at the Interantional Congress on New trends in schizophrenia: Ten years later, Bologna, Italy, April 6-9, 1998