Multiple Sclerosis. Find private treatment at German clinics

Pharmaceutical Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

In the first place German neurologists use a number of medications that have a beneficial effect on the patient's immune system in order to induce a persistent remission of a diffuse nervous disease. The course of drug therapy is selected individually considering the physical and psychological condition of the client.

Treatment of multiple sclerosis always begins with the scheduled use of immunomodulators and immunosuppressants. In Germany, interferons are one of the most popular type of immunomodulators. They control the reproduction activity of immune cells, helping to reduce the recurrence of the disease. The group of immunoglobulins, stopping the destruction of myelin sheaths of neurons, is considered the most effective.

Treatment of multiple sclerosis in Germany can not obviate the use of these immunosuppressants: Cytostatics and Glucocorticosteroids. Each one of them reduces to a certain degree the inflammatory processes and reconstructs the conductivity of nerve impulses through the retained neuron fibers.

Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis Using Speech Therapy

Speech therapy is a popular rehabilitative method of therapeutic algorithms widely used in neurological clinics in Germany. Treatment of multiple sclerosis using speech therapy techniques prevents the development of speech disorders, that can later lead to a serious deterioration of thinking, memory, attention, perception. Pathology of hearing, speech apparatus, swallowing functions can be effectively treated using following popular methods:

F.O.T.T. (Facio-Orale Trakt Therapie, Therapy of the Facio-Oral Tract);

PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation, method of corresponding the motor reactions and the neural impulse);

TAKTKIN (Treatment of speech disorders by combining motor and sensory sensations);

Padovan (neurofunctional reorganization of the brain), etc.

Such systematic treatment of multiple sclerosis makes it possible to stop the degradation of person's higher psychic functions and allows him to remain socially active. Speech therapy of multiple sclerosis in Germany is closely intertwined with the physiotherapy program. When patient performs special exercises the microcirculation of blood in his body increases, carrying the necessary substances and hormones to the brain structures. Thus, it improves the nervous impulsation, and motor disturbances get corrected.

Neurological Center of the University Clinic of Tuebingen

Since 2000, the neurological department of the University Clinic of Tübingen, closely cooperating with the innovative Institute of Clinical Studies of the Herti Foundation, is considered the largest neurological center in Germany. Ambulatory department for treatment of neuroimmunological diseases led by Professor Ulf Zimann, offers a complex interdisciplinary treatment of all types of inflammatory pathologies of the central and peripheral nervous system (multiple sclerosis), as well as of skeletal muscles (muscular neuropathy). The Neurology Center consists of a number of modernized subdivisions: Epileptology, cognitive neurology, treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, functional diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, etc. All of them offer the most modern technologies for a complex treatment of neurological diseases of different genesis and manifestation forms. In particular, the treatment of nervous system impairments is carried out in accordance with the world's best rehabilitation, diagnostics and therapy programs.

Augustahospital Clinic, Isselburg

The Augustahospital Universal Clinic in Isselburg annually provides impeccable medical support for more than 1500 patients. In 2006, the medical center was completely modernized. The clinic has at its disposal the newest equipment for diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis and inflammatory pathologies of neurological character, as well as for therapy of Parkinson's disease.

For 25 years the specialists of Augustahospital clinic were directing their efforts to the creation of unique conditions to develop independence of their clients. Treatment of multiple sclerosis is one of the priority specializations of the neurological institution. Modern diagnostic methods, such as MRI and differential analysis of cerebrospinal fluid, as well as the use of medications of an exceptional quality have made the treatment of multiple sclerosis effective and fast. According to the evaluation results by the respectable weekly medical journal The Focus, this year the Augustahospital clinic led by Dr. Michael Haupt was among the 14 best clinics of Germany, offering the most effective treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Latest News in Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

New therapeutic approach for multiple sclerosis

14.10.2021

Previous approaches to treating multiple sclerosis have focused on T and B cells. However, it may be more effective to fight another form of immune cells - namely, certain monocytes.

Both the symptoms and the course of multiple sclerosis (MS) differ greatly from patient to patient. However, one thing is the same for all sick people: cells of their own immune system migrate into the brain and destroy the myelin sheaths, the protective outer layer of the nerve fibers. As a result, electrical "short circuits" occur in the brain and nerve signals can no longer be passed on properly.

Researchers do not yet know in detail which immune cells are involved in breaking down the myelin sheaths. Autoreactive T and B cells, which, due to an error, recognize the myelin sheaths in the brain as foreign, migrate into the brain and initiate the disease. "This is why the MS drugs available to date are mainly directed against these T and B cells, both of which belong to the adaptive immune system," said the head of research, Dr. Alexander Mildner from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC).

"By attacking the acquired immune system, however, the MS drugs impair the body's immune memory, which can make it more susceptible to infections in the long term," said the scientist.

Mildner had therefore been pursuing a different strategy for a few years. He wanted to find out what role immune cells play in the development of MS, which are part of the innate body defense - and whether they too could be a suitable target structure for the treatment of the disease. "In an earlier study with a mouse model for multiple sclerosis, we were able to show that the disease symptoms in the animals were greatly reduced within just a few days when antibodies specifically destroyed their monocytes," reported the researcher. That surprised him and many of his colleagues at the time.

"Apparently, it is not only T and B cells that are involved in tissue damage in MS," said Mildner. The monocytes he examined are a special form of white blood cells that circulate in the blood for a while before they migrate into the tissue. There they transform into phagocytes that destroy tissue foreign to the body - or what they mistakenly believe to be, as is the case with MS. This leads to inflammation in the brain, said Mildner.

"We know that there are several forms of these immune cells that have different tasks," said the scientist: "In our mouse model of MS, we wanted to examine the cells more closely using single-cell sequencing and find out which monocytes are present in the brain in MS . "

He and his colleagues came across six different monocyte subtypes, four of which were previously unknown. As in his earlier study, Mildner injected the mice with antibodies against a specific surface protein of the monocytes. As expected, the cells then died and the MS symptoms in the animals diminished within a very short time. "What was surprising for us, however, was the observation that the antibodies did not destroy all of the monocytes in the brain that had this surface protein," explained Mildner.

"Only a very specific form of monocytes, the Cxcl10 + cells, perished as a result of the antibody treatment," said Mildner: "Apparently, they are the cells that primarily cause the tissue damage typical of MS in the brain."

As he and his team also found out with single-cell sequencing, this cell type differs from the other monocytes in two essential ways. On the one hand, Cxcl10 + cells have a particularly large number of receptors for a signal substance released by T cells, which causes tissue-damaging properties in monocytes. On the other hand, these cells produce a particularly large amount of interleukin-1-beta, a substance that opens the blood-brain barrier so that the cells can more easily get from the blood to the brain.

"Our research suggests that T cells, as disease initiators, migrate to the central nervous system (CNS) in order to attract monocytes there, which are responsible for the primary tissue damage," said Mildner, explaining the theory.

The other monocytes may even be involved in repair processes in which the body tries to rebuild the damaged myelin, speculated Mildner. Based on the results of his study, he also considers it conceivable that the T and B cells are not directly involved in the breakdown of the myelin sheaths, but only indirectly: by causing the Cxcl10 + monocytes to attack the protective covering of the nerve fibers.

"If that were the case, it would be sufficient to treat the vast majority of forms of MS in the future to specifically switch off the Cxcl10 + monocytes instead of taking action against the T or B cells of the immune system," continued Mildner: "This would be the immune memory of the Protect your body and avoid many of the side effects of current MS therapies."

In a next step, the researcher and his team would like to find out whether the Cxcl10 + monocytes can also be found outside the CNS. "If, for example, they already exist in the body's periphery, for example in the lymph nodes," he concluded, "they would be much easier to attack there for therapeutic purposes than in the brain."

Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis