Health News Page 2 Continued from Health News Page 1 General fatigue. Cardiovascular and respiratory problems. The management of the wide range of musculoskeletal symptoms of PPS patients has depended on supportive care and symptomatic treatment.
Joint pain is treated with analgesics, anti-inflammatory agents, and physical therapy.
Although no treatment is yet available to reverse the ongoing loss of anterior horn cells and their sprouts in patients with PPMA, clinical trials utilizing neurotrophic factors to stimulate nerve growth are underway. Given that the primary problem in patients with PPMA is the progressive deterioration of remaining motor neurons, these proteins may have the clinical potential to maintain existing motor neurons and their connections. Exhaustion of remaining motor neurons and loss of innervation of previously asymptomatic muscles appear to be the primary cause of PPS, but immune dysregulation or persistence of chronic polio infection may be contributory. In addition to physical therapy, patients may benefit from psychological counseling as they learn to cope with this disabling and belated aftermath of their acute poliomyelitis. Ariz. Dr. Sivakumar is Staff Research Associate in the Neuromuscular Diseases Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. Documents regarding disclosure of existing financial relationships between faculty and commercial supporters are available upon request from the Thomas R. Beam Jr., Memorial Institute for Continuing Medical Education.