Injection of cells led to advance

at the Scottish Health Awards. She was not available for comment yesterday. There is a scarcity of specialists like her in Scotland, which has the world’s second highest rate of multiple sclerosis in the world, behind only Canada. There are 11,190 people in Scotland with MS, with more than 600 new diagnoses every year. Despite this, there are only 28 MS nurses, making an average caseload per nurse of 401. There is a much smaller nurse to patient ratio in some places which disguises problem areas such as Lanarkshire. A recent MS Trust Case for Equitable Provision report said MS specialist nurses in Scotland have the highest caseloads of anywhere in the UK. A MULTIPLE sclerosis patient was able to walk more than 10 times further than he could before after being injected with their own immune cells.

In the first case of its kind, the patient was one of six to have the new treatment, with dramatic improvements for three of them.

They were suffering from advanced progressive MS when the researchers took cells from their own defence system in a process called immunotherapy.

It is hoped it could revolutionise treatment of MS, which affects more than 100,000 people in the UK.

The patient who was able to walk more than 10 times further than before amazed scientists.

Dr Michael Pender, of Queensland University in Brisbane, said: “One person with secondary progressive MS showed striking improvement.

“This participant had a significant increase in ambulation from 100 yards with a walker at the start of the study, and over the previous five years, to three-quarters of a mile, and was now also able to walk shorter distances with only one-sided assistance.

“Lower leg spasms that had persisted for 20 years resolved.”

He said a participant with primary progressive MS showed improved colour vision. Their sight also became sharper.

All three patients who responded to treatment had improvements in fatigue and ability to perform daily activities.

The six participants had progressive MS with moderate to severe disability.

It causes slow, steady worsening of symptoms which include problems with vision, arm or leg movement and balance.