In a ground-breaking procedure, Haematologists and Bone Marrow Transplant specialists successfully treated a 47-year-old man from New Delhi, suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) from the past seven years.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a life-long condition, known to reduce life-expectancy. 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. The patient, who was bedridden earlier, is back to his normal routine life, was diagnosed with MS an autoimmune neurodegenerative disease, where the body's own defence system starts attacking its nervous system, without any specific reason

Unlike the current line of MS treatment, which mainly includes steroid therapy, physiotherapy and symptom management, doctors used Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT). Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director, Department of Clinical Hematology & Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Hospital in Gurugram with his team performed autologous bone marrow transplant where they used the patient's stem cells for transplant, thereby reducing the chances of rejection and infections. "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," said Bhargava.

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 the patient 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," Bhargava added. According to the patient, 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," the patient said. "Too much delay in the procedure can considerably affect the clinical outcomes. In the case of Mr Anurag, recovery is 90 per cent, which means he received the treatment within recovery time-frame," Dr Bhargava said.