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Norris's report shows statistically that treatment with dexamethasone did not influence favorably the outcome of acute cerebral infarction in a group of patients compared to an untreated group. Two points in the paper deserve comment: (1) The treated group had, in general, greater neurologic deficits than the untreated group. Was this difference significant, and could it influence the results? (2) Using the criterion of a decrease of neurologic deficits from a score greater than 100 to a score less than 50, five patients in the treated group (No. 8, 11, 17, 19 and 20) made what might be considered to be a dramatic recovery from a severe deficit, but only one patient in the untreated group (No. 18) made such a recovery. Is it possible that certain patients with severe deficits might benefit from treatment with dexamethasone?
Many neurologists have noted apparently beneficial or unfavorable results from treatment with dexamethasone in specific patients