Prednisone improves chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy more than no treatment. Pulsed high-dose dexamethasone versus standard prednisolone treatment for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (PREDICT study): a double-blind, randomised, controlled trial.
Of 40 patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), 28 completed a controlled three-month trial of prednisone. Prednisone was shown to cause a small but significant improvement over no treatment in scored neurological disability, some measures of computer-assisted sensory detection threshold, graded muscle strength, and some attributes of nerve conduction. No subset of patients was more likely than another to be responsive to prednisone; those with a progressive course were as likely to be responsive as recurrent cases. This finding provides further justification for classifying progressive with recurrent cases as CIDP and demonstrates that prednisone treatment should not be withheld from patients with progressive disease. Pulsed high-dose dexamethasone induced long-lasting remission in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) in a pilot study. The PREDICT study aimed to compare remission rates in patients with CIDP treated with high-dose dexamethasone with rates in patients treated with standard oral prednisolone.
                In eight neuromuscular centres in the Netherlands and one in the UK, patients aged 18 years or older who had newly diagnosed definite or probable CIDP were randomly assigned to a treatment regimen of either pulsed high-dose dexamethasone or standard oral prednisolone. Randomisation was done with a random number generator. The primary outcome measure was remission at 12 months, defined as improvement of at least three points on the Rivermead mobility index and improvement of at least one point on the inflammatory neuropathy cause and treatment disability scale. Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials, number ISRCTN07779236.
                Between December, 2003, and December, 2008, 40 patients were treated: 24 received dexamethasone and 16 received prednisolone. At 12 months, 16 patients were in remission: ten in the dexamethasone group and six in the prednisolone group (odds ratio [OR] 1.2, 95% CI 0.3-4.4). Most adverse events were minor and did not differ substantially between treatment groups; however, sleeplessness and Cushing's face occurred more often in the prednisolone group.
                Pulsed high-dose dexamethasone treatment did not induce remission more often than prednisolone treatment. A substantial proportion of patients were in remission at 12 months in both treatment groups. High-dose dexamethasone could be considered as induction therapy in CIDP, but comparison with intravenous immunoglobulin treatment is needed.
                The Prinses Beatrix Fonds (MAR01-0213) and the Department of Neurology, Academic Medical Center.
                2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Very low quality evidence from one small, randomised trial did not show a statistically significant benefit from oral prednisone compared with no treatment. Nevertheless, corticosteroids are commonly used in practice. According to moderate quality evidence from one RCT, the efficacy of high-dose monthly oral dexamethasone was not statistically different from that of daily standard-dose oral prednisolone. Most adverse events occurred with similar frequencies in both groups, but sleeplessness and moon facies were significantly less common with monthly dexamethasone. Further research is needed to identify factors which predict response.