An effect of long-term cerebrolysin therapy in combination with neuroleptics on behavioral and cognitive disturbances in endogenous childhood autism

An open prospective clinical study included 25 patients with childhood autism aged from 3 to 8 years (mean age 5 years 11 months). Patients received 2 therapeutic courses (15 intramuscular Cerebrolysin injections of 1,0 ml every other day per course) with 2 months interval and basic antipsychotic therapy using typical neuroleptics in age-adjusted dosages. The duration of the study was 180 days. Significant or very significant improvement was achieved after the 1(st) Cerebrolysin course in 38% patients, after the 2(nd) course in more than 50% and to the end of the follow-up (180(th) day) in 71% of patients. There were no cases of deterioration during the trial. The autism severity as measured by the CARS scale consistently decreased from the day 0 to the day 180 - from 37,7 to 32,6 scores, respectively (p < 0,001) in all assessments as compared with the baseline. To the end of the study, the patients demonstrated a significant decrease in mental retardation by 0,2 years. A statistically significant improvement was achieved in cognitive activity, attention during task performing as well as in self-service (by 0,3 years), receptive and expressive speech, cognitive performance and perception (by 0,2 years), fine motor function (by 0,1 years). The combined therapy comprising neuroleptics and Cerebrolysin double course can be recommended for correction of behavioral disorders and cognitive dysfunction in patients with mild moderate and moderate/severe autism.