[High-dose intravenous penicillin therapy in neurosyphilis. III. Evaluation of antitreponemal antibodies of the IgM class in cerebrospinal fluid and serum]. / Penicilinoterapia intravenosa em altas doses na neurossífilis. III. Avaliação de anticorpos antitreponêmicos da classe IgM no líqüido cefalorraqueano e no soro.

IgM antibodies against Treponema pallidum were investigated in the serum and in the CSF of 9 patients with symptomatic neurosyphilis, before the treatment and in several occasions after the treatment. Tests used were the FTA-Abs test, the IgM-solid phase hemadsorption test and an IgM-Elisa test. Titers of reactions decreased after treatment but they were still reactive in the blood and in the CSF during the second year after the treatment.

[High-dose intravenous penicillin therapy in neurosyphilis: study of 62 cases. II. Evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid]. / Penicilinoterapia intravenosa em altas doses na neurossífilis: Estudo de 62 casos. II. Avaliação do líqüido cefalorraqueano.

Sixty-two patients with symptomatic neurosyphilis were treated with 20 or 24 megaunits of intravenous penicillin G daily for 15 to 30 days. The mean follow-up time after the treatment was 30 months. Forty-one patients had pleocytosis in the CSF before treatment. Six months and twelve or more months later, abnormal cell count was observed in 4 (9.8%) and in 3 patients (7.3%), respectively. The CSF protein level and the titers of Wassermann reaction in the CSF decreased slowly after treatment. The gammaglobulin concentration of the CSF and the immunoglobulin production inside the blood-brain barrier were still increased beyond the first year after treatment. The results of the treatment of these patients with high doses of intravenous penicillin G were not different from the results verified with lesser doses of intramuscular penicillin that were reported in the literature.