AS PART of the nation-wide evaluation of penicillin in the treatment of syphilis, a study of the use of this drug with various forms of neurosyphilis has been in progress at the Johns Hopkins Hospital since October 1943. The preliminary results of therapy of asymptomatic neurosyphilis1 and dementia paralytica2 and the early changes in the abnormalities of the cerebrospinal fluid3 have been reported in previous papers. This study, the fourth in the series, is concerned with the treatment of tabes dorsalis.
The details of therapy and the methods of analyzing the results have been described in earlier publications and need not be repeated here. The same reservations made necessary by the changing character4 of commercial penicillin during the period of this study are necessary.
As of October 1946, 54 patients with tabes dorsalis have been treated with penicillin. Thirty-three of these patients (group A) received penicillin