Recently there has been national media attention surrounding the story of Ben Leahy, a young man with MS from the ACT that underwent a ‘new stem cell treatment’.
Ben had an interview on ABC radio about the stem cell treatment, and how it is has significantly improved his level of disability. There has also been in-depth television coverage of his story.
MS Australia – QLD would like to state that while this is great news for the young man involved, there is no clinical evidence to lead us to endorse this treatment as being useful in all cases. While it has the potential to be a promising area, much more research is needed to be done.
Professor Bill Carroll, MS Research Australia’s Scientific Chairman says "With changes in the way bone marrow stem cell transplants are performed nowadays the risk of death from this treatment has fallen. When this is combined with transplantation at a relatively early stage of aggressive disease the risk-benefit relationship has been improved considerably."
"At present this is not a treatment option to be considered for all people with MS. There is an increasing amount of research interest worldwide in this form of treatment".
People with MS are encouraged to always seek the advice directly from their treating neurologist about their
own disease.
