Comhaire, Frank · Medical hypotheses · 2018 · DOI
This study looked at why some ME/CFS patients improve when taking sodium dichloroacetate (DCA), a drug that helps mitochondria—the energy centers of cells—work better, while others don't benefit at all. By examining 35 ME/CFS patients, researchers found 6 specific patient characteristics that could predict who would respond well to DCA treatment. These findings suggest doctors might be able to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from this treatment before they start taking it.
ME/CFS patients often struggle to find effective treatments, and DCA has shown promise for some but not all patients. This research provides a potential tool to identify which patients might benefit before starting treatment, potentially saving time and resources and reducing unnecessary drug exposure for those unlikely to respond.
This study does not prove that the identified characteristics cause different treatment responses—it only identifies an association. The small sample size (35 patients) means the predictive formula requires validation in larger independent patient populations before clinical use. The observational design without blinded controls cannot exclude placebo effects or other confounding factors affecting outcomes.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Comhaire, Frank (2018). Why do some ME/CFS patients benefit from treatment with sodium dichloroacetate, but others do not?. Medical hypotheses. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2018.08.014
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-comhaire-2018-why-some,
author = {Comhaire, Frank},
title = {Why do some ME/CFS patients benefit from treatment with sodium dichloroacetate, but others do not?},
journal = {Medical hypotheses},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1016/j.mehy.2018.08.014},
note = {PubMed: 30220343},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/comhaire-2018-why-some},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/comhaire-2018-why-some
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.