Efficacy of Ultramicronized Palmitoylethanolamide on the Clinical Symptoms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Neuropathy

This study investigates the efficacy of ultramicronized palmitoyletanolamide (PEA-um) in treating the clinical symptoms of Charcot-MarieTooth (CMT) Neuropathy. 22 CMT patients were assessed with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain, fatigue and cramps, at baseline (T0), and following 20 (T1) and 80 days (T2) treatment with 1200 mg/day of PEA-um. Electromyographic examination was performed both at baseline (T0) and at end of study treatment (T2). None of the patients received an add-on treatment for these symptoms. A significant improvement of pain, fatigue and cramps was observed in VAS scores after 20 days of treatment with PEA-um microgranules (T1). Mean values of VAS score for pain decreased from 5.9 ± 2.1 to 3.9 ± 1.7, VAS score for fatigue decreased from 6.3 ± 2.4 to 3.4 ± 1.6 whereas VAS score for cramps diminished from 5.4 ± 1.2 to 3.8 ± 1.3. Further clinical improvement was observed also after 80 days (T2) of treatment with the same dosage of PEA-um tablets. Muscle strength, vibratory sensation and motor / sensory nerve conduction velocities did not display any significant modification. Although obviously limited as an open study, the data strongly suggest an efficacy of PEA-um in improving the clinical symptoms of CMT neuropathy. Copyright: © 2016 Giovanni Antioco Putzu, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.