“The disease of young and very young people”: an expert on the symptoms of multiple sclerosis

- Is it true that at the end of May there are usually events aimed at raising people's awareness of multiple sclerosis?

- Yes that's right.

There is International Multiple Sclerosis Day on May 27th and Russian Multiple Sclerosis Day on June 11th.

The Russian Multiple Sclerosis Day is two years older than its European counterpart, and it was Russia that initiated this action for the first time.

- Has the diagnosis of the disease improved in recent years?

— Of course, the medical expert community has taken a fairly big step in this direction, specialized medical centers have begun to appear.

Diagnosis has improved, in particular due to changes in clinical guidelines.

Now under consideration is the second - the latest version of clinical recommendations with all the innovations of both technical and therapeutic properties.

And if earlier (the same five years ago) the diagnosis of "multiple sclerosis" was made within one year - three years, and before that within three - seven years, now three months - six months maximum is enough to make a diagnosis.

- Are there any new treatments and drugs?

- In fact, new drugs appear every year.

In the 1990s, we did not know how to treat this disease at all; in the late 1990s, the so-called interferons appeared - first-line drugs, which are also relevant now.

They had an average efficiency of 30%.

Starting from the 2000s, more powerful drugs began to appear - first, the first line, which already has not 30% efficiency, but 50-60%.

But they were still for a group of remitting patients.

Our task was to put them into remission in order to keep them in this state for a long time.

Starting in 2015, drugs began to appear that treat other forms of multiple sclerosis.

Since 2016-2017, drugs have appeared for the treatment of primary progressive multiple sclerosis.

In 2019-2020, drugs for the treatment of secondary progressive forms of multiple sclerosis began to enter the market.

Starting from 2020-2021, drugs began to appear that affect progressive forms.

Now almost 100% of drugs that are already used in Europe and the USA are registered in Russia.

Let me remind you that the average cost of such drugs is more than 1 million rubles per person per year, and all this is provided free of charge.

If we used to start treatment with 5,000 people, now we treat 60,000 people free of charge, and the state allocates almost 24 billion rubles a year for them.

There are problems with the organization of specialized planned medical care and emergency care in the regions.

Now, together with the Federation Council, we are trying to rectify the situation so that assistance is available in any subject of the country.

- Since this is a disease of young and very young people with a very active lifestyle, I have serious doubts that they pay attention to this.

Moreover, with multiple sclerosis, especially in the early phases, criticism of one's own health is slightly reduced.

Therefore, in general, the first appeals to us do not come from the patients themselves, but from their relatives, relatives, or those around them begin to ask some uncomfortable questions.

There are no stable clinical manifestations that everyone would have, which is why multiple sclerosis is called a disease with a thousand faces.

There may be mental disorders, and disturbances in the balance of movement, vision.

Athletes especially notice that they can no longer endure the loads that are usual for them.

Of the more everyday things - intolerance to hot baths or baths.

After that, muscle weakness occurs - everything falls out of the hands, they stumble.

The sensation of current passing along the spine is the so-called Lhermitte syndrome.

There may be a short-term loss of vision, for example, after the same bath, he became blind, then, after two or three hours, everything came back.

Loss of vibrational sensitivity is already a special test.

Now the average life expectancy of such a person is up to 70-80 years.

It just needs early diagnosis and proper treatment.

Also on russian.rt.com The first Multiple Sclerosis Center opened in the Moscow Region

— What studies are included in the top three most informative diagnostic methods for multiple sclerosis?

- MRI, studies of cerebrospinal fluid, and then the opinions of scientists are divided.

— How many people with multiple sclerosis live in Russia?

How does the number of such patients change over time?

- We have different levels of data, since there is no single register.

For example, according to the scientific community, there should now be about 170 thousand patients in Russia. On average, if we focus on Moscow, about 50 people per 100 thousand population, and in St. Petersburg - 86 people per 100 thousand population, because the disease is increasing north and decreases south.

In Norway - 112 people per 100 thousand population, in North Africa - six people per 100 thousand population.

According to the Russian Ministry of Health - 83 thousand people.

The growth of these patients is estimated at 7% per year.

Considering that these are mostly young people aged 24-28, 80% of whom have families and higher education, the losses, it seems to me, are quite serious.