Lowering body temperature with a cooling suit as symptomatic treatment for thermosensitive multiple sclerosis patients.

A cooling system (Mark VII Microclimate System) was used to give six thermosensitive multiple sclerosis patients two 45-minute daily coolings for a period of one month. Before the first cooling, a baseline clinical and electrophysiological examination was performed. The same tests were repeated after the first application and after the thirtieth cooling day, thus providing information relating to acute and chronic efficacy. A clinical improvement was observed after both acute and, more unexpectedly, chronic cooling, whereas a significant improvement in central somatosensory conduction was recorded only under acute conditions. Our data suggest that cooling with this device leads to an improvement in some functional performances (mainly fatigue and strength) of about two hours' duration in thermosensitive patients.