Gurugram/ New Delhi:
In a ground-breaking procedure, leading Haematologists and Bone Marrow Transplant specialists, successfully treated Anurag Mishra, a 47-year-old man, suffering from Multiple Sclerosis from the past seven years. Unlike the current line of MS treatment, which mainly includes steroid therapy, physiotherapy and symptom management, Doctors used Bone Marrow Transplant. As Anurag, who was bedridden earlier, is back to his normal routine life, the innovative treatment approach may open the door to the complete cure of MS.
Anurag was diagnosed with MS — Multiple sclerosis (MS) an autoimmune neurodegenerative disease, where the body’s own defence system starts attacking its nervous system, without any specific reason. The mean age of onset for MS is 27 years, which means often the disease hits when the person is in their prime.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a life-long condition, known to reduce life-expectancy1. MS affects the brain and spinal cord that leads to serious disabilities. The most common symptoms of MS include loss of sensation and balance, restricted arm or leg movement and vision loss in one or both the eyes.
Dr Rahul Bhargava and team performed autologous bone marrow transplant where they used Anurag’s stem cells for transplant, thereby reducing the chances of rejection and infections.
Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director, Department of Clinical Hematology & Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Hospital says “In an autologous BMT procedure, the healthy stem cells from the patient are taken out and preserved. Chemotherapy is then administered to reset the body’s immunity and then the stem cells are injected back to rescue the person from the side effects of chemotherapy. After the surgery, the patient is kept under isolation for a few months to ensure he/she does not contract any infection. In this case, when Mr Anurag approached us, he was entirely dependent on others for his basic needs. But within six months after the treatment, he is back on his legs and is carrying on with his normal life,”
As in the case of Mr Anurag, who was living a normal family life, cushioned with a well-heeled engineer career, After getting first attack of Multiple Sclerosis At that time, he lost vision in one eye and reduced vision in the other one. but he kept getting MS attacks, leading to severe disabilities, loss of job, depression and restricted movements and his both legs were almost paralysed. that made him completely dependent on his family. Soon, MS completely took over his life.
“Life with MS is very difficult. It’s like one day you are fine and living a normal life, the next day you are battling to survive. The attacks are sudden and may affect any part of your body, limiting your abilities. Extreme pain and disabilities this disease gave, made me very scary and depressing. I think I am very lucky to get to know about Dr Rahul Bhargava and team, who cured me miraculously. I can’t thank them enough for what they did for me and my family,” says Mr Anurag.
Talking about the chances of BMT success in MS, Dr Rahul Bhargava said, “For the success of the treatment, it is very important that the BMT is done before patient’s condition deteriorates beyond the scope of retrieval. Too much delay in the procedure can considerably affect the clinical outcomes. In the case of Mr Anurag, recovery is 90%, which means he received the treatment within recovery time-frame.”
