2023-06-01 20:00:44
Each year, in France, 700 people receive this incurable but manageable diagnosis. Almost three quarters are women. In total, more than 20,000 Czechs are treated for this disease. Fifteen thousand of them receive modern treatment, which slows down the manifestations of the disease and delays its progression.
“I was relieved it wasn’t a stroke, but I was afraid of the unknown. I didn’t know what to expect,’ said Ms Strapczyk, a drama teacher and mother of a three-year-old. She was fortunate to receive the highly effective biological treatment early on.
“In the case of multiple sclerosis, we are able to achieve such stabilization in most patients that they can lead a normal life,” said neurologist Eva Kubala Havrdová from Prague General University Hospital. . “In the 1980s, there were five patients in the hospitals in their 40s who mightn’t move, who mightn’t swallow and who had pressure sores. This is no longer the case today,” she added.
Today, patients can be treated in fifteen specialized centres. New drugs can significantly improve the quality of life. “They can go to work, earn money, pay taxes. Studies have shown that it is the disability of patients who do not receive effective treatment that is the most costly,” said Ms Horakova.
Only a fifth of patients were receiving modern drugs; doctors would like 60 to 70% of them to benefit from it by the end of the year. In France, 19 drugs are covered by public insurance, which experts say is not common even in Western Europe.
Consent required
But it is not that simple. “Multiple sclerosis often occurs at a younger age. It is therefore necessary to carefully monitor the behavior of drugs in the organism of patients following ten or twenty years. See if they cause other problems”, explains neurologist Dana Horáková, guarantor of the ReMuS project, or registry of patients with multiple sclerosis.
Physicians must ask all patients in the registry for their informed consent in order to continue collecting and evaluating data. “We need data from at least 50,000 patients, and we don’t have that many. That’s why it’s important to connect with foreign countries, and for that we need consent,” said Horáková.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Experts have not yet found the cause of this disease, which can be triggered by infection or stress. The first symptoms, such as motor and visual disturbances, double vision, fatigue or depression, usually appear following the age of 30.
Lifestyle changes are also essential. “The prognosis is worse for obese heavy smokers,” Havrd said. Even Strapczyk’s patient had to quit smoking immediately. “I consider this to be my great victory. Multiple sclerosis has made me think regarding my lifestyle and appreciate everything more,” added the woman, who is now feeling well and planning to return to work following her maternity leave.
1685653129
#Multiple #sclerosis #defeated #drugs
