[Study of the effects of isaxonine on retrograde axon degeneration induced by vincristine in man (author's transl)].

Fifteen patients with Hodgkin's disease were examined before and after each administration of vincristine sulfate (2 intravenous injections of 1.4 mg/m2 of body surface, during the first week of each month for 3 months). Moreover, each patient received daily, according to a double blind protocol, either 4 capsules of 375 mg of isaxonine, either 4 capsules filled with lactose used as placebo. At the end of treatment, analysis revealed that 8 subjects were given isaxonine and 7 the placebo. Motor, sensory and reflex conduction velocities, amplitudes of potentials evoked by stimulating motor, cutaneous sensory, or primary afferent fibres, were determined in each electrophysiological examination session. The data and pecularly those obtained from reflex studies, show a significant lesser degree of distal axonal degeneration, in patients receiving a placebo. These results support evidence for a protective effect of the drug against vincristine induced peripheral nerve lesions.