LOWERING BODY-TEMPERATURE WITH A COOLING SUIT AS SYMPTOMATIC TREATMENT FOR THERMOSENSITIVE MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS PATIENTS

A cooling system (Mark VII Microclimate System) was used to give six t hermosensitive multiple sclerosis patients two 45-minute daily cooling s for a period of one month. Before the first cooling, a baseline clin ical and electrophysiological examination was performed. The same test s were repeated after the first application and after the thirtieth co oling day, thus providing information relating to acute and chronic ef ficacy. A clinical improvement was observed after both acute and more unexpectedly, chronic cooling, whereas a significant improvement in ce ntral somatosensory conduction was recorded only under acute condition s. Our data suggest that cooling with this device leads to an improvem ent in some functional performances (mainly fatigue and strength) of a bout two hours' duration in thermosensitive patients.