USE OF ALPHA TOCOPHEROL IN THE TREATMENT OF NEUROMUSCULAR DISORDERS

Abstract

On the basis of experimental paralyses produced in animals by Evans and Burr,¹ Einarson and Ringsted² and others, vitamin E and alpha tocopherol, an alcohol isolated from wheat germ oil having apparently all of the properties of the vitamin, have been rather widely advocated as therapeutic agents for a variety of diseases of the neuromuscular system, especially amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and progressive muscular dystrophy. The favorable clinical reports of Bicknell³ and Wechsler⁴ have been followed by those of Stone,⁵ Vilter, Aring and Spies,⁶ and Rosenberger⁷ and by a considerable body of literature distributed by various pharmaceutic companies and, indeed, by the lay press. However, the reports of others⁸ make it clear that the efficacy of the therapy is far from proved. This report covers a group of 35 patients treated with large doses of synthetic alpha tocopherol, beginning May 1940. The purpose of the study was to