Most patients are treated successfully with steroids, but up to 10 percent don't respond. They are the ones who might be helped by the new treatment. Dr. Ben Thrower, of the MS Center located at Holy Family Hospital in Spokane, called the study very promising and said the treatment will be made available locally to those patients. The center will help make the arrangements with Sacred Heart Medical Center, which has the area's only plasma exchange machine. The Inland Northwest has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis in the country and the second highest in the world, with an estimated 180 cases per 100,000 people, Thrower said.
Researchers believe the reason is genetics.
The genetic groups most at risk for contracting the disease are those of Northern European ancestry, which make up the vast majority of Inland Northwest residents. The procedure tested at the Mayo Clinic was initially effective for eight of the 19 patients, but five had recurrent attacks within six months of the procedure. The research will be published in the December issue of Annals of Neurology. Audrey Penn, deputy director of National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which sponsored the study, called it promising, but said the sample size was too small to consider it accurate. Doctors told him that an inflamed spinal cord meant he likely would never walk again.