The dialogue between the patient and professional is one of the essential factors in the evolution of the approach to MS.
The hospital’s Multiple Sclerosis Unit leads a territorial care network for MS patients, which is pioneer in Europe. World Multiple Sclerosis Day is celebrated on 30 May under the moto"I connect, we connect".
Catalonia is home to some 9,000 people affected by multiple sclerosis (55,000 in Spain as a whole). Out of all the Catalan patients, 1,200 are treated by the Bellvitge Hospital (HUB) Multiple Sclerosis Unit. To strengthen the patient-professional dialogue, this unit is organising a talk on Friday 27 May at 4.30 pm in the hospital’s auditorium. During the event, which will be held on the occasion of World Multiple Sclerosis Day, several professionals and patients will talk in pairs about specific aspects of the disease, such as its psychological impact, patient empowerment, research and the influence of habits and lifestyle on the disease.
The HUB leads the EMXarxa (MS network), of which the hospitals Joan XXIII in Tarragona, Viladecans, Vendrell and Sant Camil (Alt Penedès-Garraf Health Consortium) in Sant Pere de Ribes are also part. Its main goal is to bring patient care closer to the patients home and to work together with other healthcare services, such as primary care and nursing homes. "We are the first healthcare network in Europe able to offer coverage to the patients from our area in up to five hospitals in a coordinated and homogeneous way," explains Dr Sergio Martínez Yélamos, head of the HUB’s Multiple Sclerosis Unit.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune neurological disease that attacks the myelin or white matter in the brain and spinal cord, which is essential for the transmission of nerve impulses. It causes the appearance of sclerotic plaques that prevent the normal transmission of these impulses. Symptoms may manifest as inflammatory flare-ups with vision problems; weakness in the limbs; numbness or tingling in several parts of the body; pain; balance difficulties and incontinence. After traffic accidents, it is the second cause of disability among young people between 20 and 40 years of age, the age group in which 70% of cases are registered, being always more common among women.
As Dr Martínez Yélamos explains, progress in pharmacological treatments have made it possible to control the intensiveness of outbreaks, allowing to monitor the disease much better now than ten years ago. But there is still a long way to go in tackling the progression of the disease, "we have beaten inflammation, and now the goal is to control the impact of the medium and long-term disability that progressive forms of the disease can cause". In this line, the participation of patients, who are increasingly educated and informed, in decision-making is a methodology that is fully accepted as fundamental to progress in the field of personalised medicine to treat the disease.
A proven experience
The Multiple Sclerosis Unit at Bellvitge Hospital was set up in 1994. In 2013 it was designated as a reference unit of the Centros, Servicios y Unidades de Referencia (CSUR) programme of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality. The CSUR accreditation recognises the excellence of centres that are able to provide quality care in certain complex pathologies, for which they can treat patients from anywhere in Spain. The Unit's doctors and nurses have been gathering clinical data and biological samples from nearly 2,000 patients for more than 10 years, which is a valuable background for the research. Thus, the Unit participates in various clinical trials and has carried out several research projects. "We have one of the most important biobanks of MS samples in Europe. This allows us to make progress in research with biomarkers that will help us to improve both the prognosis and the response to increasingly individualised treatments," concludes Dr Sergio Martínez Yélamos.