Efficacy of high-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy in the treatment of enterovirus 71 encephalitis

To investigate the efficacy of high-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy in the treatment of Enterovirus 71 (EV71) encephalitis. To determine whether high-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy should be used, 80 cases of pediatric patients with EV71 encephalitis were randomly divided into steroid pulse therapy group and non-steroid pulse therapy group and their clinical information was compared using statistic analysis. There was no statistical difference in the duration of fever, duration of nervous system involvement, duration of hospital stay, blood pressure, and cure rates between the two groups (p>0.05). The heart rate, respiratory rate, white blood cell counts and blood glucose of the steroid pulse therapy group were significantly higher than those of the non-steroid pulse therapy group (p<0.05). High-dose steroid pulse therapy to treat EV71 encephalitis can't shorten the course or improve the prognosis of the disease. In contrast, it has side effects and might aggravate disease condition or interfere with disease diagnosis. Our study suggested that there is no beneficial effect to use high-dose steroid pulse therapy for the treatment of EV71 encephalitis.