Man walks again after MS stem cell treatment
Tick
Man walks again after MS stem cell treatment
Posted Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:00am AEDT
Doctors say Ben's treatment gives hope to other MS patients. (ABC
News: Clarissa Thorpe)
Video: Miracle recovery (ABC News) Audio: New treatment for MS patient
gives positive results (ABC News) Map: Canberra 2600
An Australian man appears to have made a remarkable recovery from
multiple sclerosis after receiving new stem cell treatment.
Ben Leahy, 20, was diagnosed with the disease in 2008 and ended up in
intensive care at one point with respiratory failure after his
condition deteriorated rapidly.
He was in a wheelchair and also had sight problems when he underwent
the procedure earlier this year but today he is walking and recovering
well.
Australian doctors removed stem cells from Ben's bone marrow, then
used chemicals to destroy all the existing immune cells in the body
before re-injecting his stem cells.
ACT neurologist Dr Colin Andrews says the positive results in Ben have
surprised doctors.
"At the moment there's a good chance we may have arrested the
disease," he said.
"He walks pretty well, there's only some mild weakness in his right
leg and some visual loss in one eye and apart from that he's very
intact," he said.
Dr Andrews says health professionals had been reluctant to use the
technique because of the risk of death was at around 8 per cent
several years ago.
He was unable to get consensus from his peers to go ahead with the
treatment in Canberra and could not try the treatment on Ben until he
found a specialist in Sydney who was doing similar work on people with
other conditions.
He also had to get Ben well enough to be able to undergo the stem cell
treatment and this took several months.
The risk of death from the procedure has now been reduced to 1 per
cent and Dr Andrews says the outstanding results on Ben means it can
now be an option for more people as a last resort if other treatments
have not been successful in stopping the progress of the disease.
"I've told some of my MS friends in our association, they're quite
pleased about it all," he said.
"It sets another landmark for people to work towards."
Mr Andrews hopes to start offering it to some patients, whom he
describes as "special cases" in Sydney and Melbourne.
He says for some patients there will be a 60 to 80 per cent chance the
progress of the disease can be stopped and for others a good chance it
can be reversed.
Ben's mother Prue, who was afraid he was going to die, says it was
beyond her expectations to have him walking again.
"What I got was more than I could have ever imagined or hoped for,"
she said.
Ben says he will now return to school and hopes to study physics.
Multiple sclerosis affects the central nervous system and stop nerve
impulses travelling to the brain, spinal cord and eyes and those with
the disease suffer from episodes which are unpredictable, with varying
symptoms.
Almost 20,000 Australians have the disease.
A small trial done early this year overseas stopped symptoms and in a
few cases reversed neurological damage of multiple scerosis.
chsw
Ol Tick, don't we have a newsgroup reader who was one of the
first autologous stem cell patients, about ten years ago?
chsw
Tick
> chsw- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
www.repairstemcell.wordpress.com
Duke and Northwestern University, 81% success rates, etc.)
http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/multiple-sclerosis-and-stem-cells-need-more-info/
STEM CELL TREATMENT INFO (free info on who is treating it where, what
cost, etc.)
They are treating Multiple Sclerosis in many stem cell treatment
centers around the world with success. There is a patient advocacy
organization that claims if you fill out a treatment request form
[ http://repairstemcells.org/Treatment/Treatment-Request.aspx?d=Multiple%20Sclerosis
] they will send you FREE info on where you can be treated. They send
your medical info to the top stem cell treatment centers in the world
and then will contact you with information, costs, etc. There is NO
COST for treatment request and info.
Tick
On Dec 22, 10:59 pm, "www.repairstemcell.wordpress.com"
<dsgr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> STEM CELLS VS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (a brief history including trials at
> Duke and Northwestern University, 81% success rates, etc.)http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/multiple-sclerosis-and...
>
> STEM CELL TREATMENT INFO (free info on who is treating it where, what
> cost, etc.)
> They are treating Multiple Sclerosis in many stem cell treatment
> centers around the world with success. There is a patient advocacy
> organization that claims if you fill out a treatment request form
> [http://repairstemcells.org/Treatment/Treatment-Request.aspx?d=Multipl...
Craig Garrison
>Ol Tick, don't we have a newsgroup reader who was one of the
>first autologous stem cell patients, about ten years ago?
>
>chsw
That would be me. My results weren't so dramatic, but they were
definitely positive. Most who go through this procedure simply go
into remission. I've worked hard for eight years, and have gone from
occasionaly needing two canes to occasionally needing no cane for
short periods.
The procedure is getting a little more press now because the phase II
trials are starting to report results. There was a long gap between
phase I and phase II for several reaons.
Craig