title: Long-term administration of 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine to patients with AIDS-related neurological disease.
abstract: 3'-Azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (AZT) has been administered to 7 patients with human immunodeficiency virus-associated neurological disease: 3 with dementia, 2 with peripheral neuropathy, 1 with dementia and peripheral neuropathy, and 1 with T-10 paraplegia. Six of the patients showed improvement in their neurological dysfunction on being administered AZT, as assessed by clinical evaluation, neuropsychological testing, nerve conduction studies, and/or positron emission tomographic scans. Three of these 6 patients showed sustained improvement 5 to 18 months after the initiation of AZT therapy. These results suggest that certain human immunodeficiency virus-associated neurological abnormalities are at least partially reversible following the administration of antiretroviral therapy and provide a rationale for further studies using antiretroviral chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yarchoan
authors.forename: R V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grafman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wichman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dalakas
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McAtee
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fischl
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Perno
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Klecker
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003704:Dementia / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013936:Thymidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013997:Time Factors; D015215:Zidovudine
chemical_list: D015215:Zidovudine; D013936:Thymidine