Trial Report ...the effectiveness of neuroprotective therapy using functional brain MRI in patients with post-covid chronic fatigue syndrome, 2023, Tanashyan et al

Full title: A prospective randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of neuroprotective therapy using functional brain MRI in patients with post-covid chronic fatigue syndrome.

Highlights

• Reduction of post-COVID fatigue was observed with CCSA (a novel neuroprotective drug) administration.
  
  
• CCSA treatment involved alterations in rest- and task-based functional MRI of the brain.
  
  
• CCSA administration resulted in an increase in the functional cognitive status – both clinically and on neuroimaging.

Abstract

Background and purpose
to assess executive network using resting-state fMRI and patterns of brain activation using task fMRI with a cognitive paradigm, against the background of taking the drug in comparison with placebo in patients with post-COVID asthenic syndrome.

Methods
The study employed a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial approach to assess the efficacy of utilizing functional MRI of the brain as a neuroprotective therapy for treating patients with chronic fatigue syndrome following COVID-19. The study included 30 patients matched by sex and age with post-COVID asthenic syndrome. All patients were examined with MFI-20, MoCA, FAS-10 scales, MRI using a Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3 T scanner before and after a course of therapy with coordination complex with succinate acid anion (CCSA) or placebo (15 patients each) using resting state fMRI and with cognitive paradigm.

Results
The changes obtained as a result of the treatment of post-Covid asthenic syndrome demonstrated clinical superiority in the reduction of asthenic symptoms for the group of patients treated with CCSA (MFI-20 scores: −20·0 points in the CCSA group compared to −12 points in the placebo group, p = 0·043). The data obtained also correlate with the analysis of task fMRI and resting state fMRI may indicate an increase in the functional cognitive status after a course of therapy with CCSA. Clinically, this correlates with a statistically significant improvement in the MoCA score (2 points in the CCSA group compared to 1 point in the placebo group, p < 0·05).

Conclusions
the study demonstrates the potential effectiveness of CCSA therapy in relation to a wide range of symptoms (chronic fatigue syndrome/ asthenic syndrome and cognitive impairment) in patients with post-COVID syndrome. The first time demonstrated the effectiveness of neuroprotective therapy after post-COVID asthenic syndrome with the use of high-tech neuroimaging techniques.

Open access, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753332223015214

 

So they appear to equate asthenic syndrome with CFS.

I did not know what asthenic syndrome was, or I'd forgotten. Fun read if you enjoy reading about so-called anxiety neurosis. Which evidently we have, or need to have to fit their casting of the disease.

 

The drug used in the study is the trademarked Brainmax, a product of the Russian company Promomed.

https://promomed.ru/en/catalog/original/breynmaks/

Love the bit "Sources of financing" at the end of the research report that sources of financing included help from Promomed, but that it did not bias the study.

ETA: Three out of the four researchers received honoraria from Promomed. These potential bias facts are outlined in the section "Declaration of Competing Interest."



Active ingredients of Brainmax: ethyl methyl hydroxypyridine succinate, 250mg and meldonium dihydrate, 250 mg. (this last chemical has some effect on the immune system).