[Treatment of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy(CIDP)--a review]

This is a review article about the recent progress and the general consensus of the treatment of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). Although the first line treatment is believed to be adrenocorticosteroid prescribed orally or intravenously, some insist that plasmapheresis or intravenous immunoglobulin is better. The latter two are expensive but the effects are comparable to that of steroid, and in some patients complete remission might be induced. On the other hand, about 30% of patients do not respond to any of these conventional procedures, and for these the combination of two or three of them might be effective. As another choice, immunosuppressant or interferon (alfa-2 a or beta-1 a) has been applied although its usefulness is still inconclusive. For any of these here mentioned, the clinical response greatly varies among patients, and the elucidation of predictive factors of effectiveness is eagerly awaited from the standpoint of reasonable treatment selection and cost-effectiveness.