Intravenous natural beta interferon treatment of chronic exacerbating-remitting multiple sclerosis: clinical response and MRI/CSF findings.

A preliminary study is reported of clinical response and CSF/MRI findings in nine patients with multiple sclerosis receiving intravenous infusions of natural beta-interferon. The mean patient follow-up was for 1.2 years. Neither exacerbation rates nor CSF-IgG synthesis nor plaque formation as revealed by MRI showed a significant reduction during therapy. One patient developed a severe exacerbation of multiple sclerosis shortly after interferon infusion.