June 16, 2000

It was difficult to tell that Susan Graham, an artist from New Hampshire, felt discomfort when she recently came to the new MGH/BWH Multiple Sclerosis Center. "Right now, my whole body feels like a tuning fork," she said. Although outwardly Graham seemed fine, had she not mentioned this feeling — one of many symptoms possible during an exacerbation or "flare-up" of multiple sclerosis (MS) — no one would have known she was experiencing it.

Nine years ago, Graham was diagnosed with MS, a central nervous system disease that misdirects the immune system to attack the coating of nerve cells. This coating is essential to the extremely rapid transmission of nerve signals that occurs in healthy people. In patients with MS, those signals are disrupted, causing a variety of symptoms — including weakness and problems with coordination, sensation and vision — that range from mild to severe. When Graham first came to the MGH/BWH Multiple Sclerosis Center, she was experiencing a severe flare-up that caused her to have trouble walking.

"We first tried steroids and some of the drugs known to help with MS attacks," says Graham. "But this particular attack was stronger than those drugs, so we ultimately decided to use chemotherapy. The chemotherapy saved me and kept me out of a wheelchair."

Howard Weiner, MD, of BWH Neurology, is the director of the new MS Center, which combines the MS practices of the MGH and BWH to offer comprehensive care, including physical and occupational therapy, an infusion facility and a patient education center. A clinical immunology laboratory soon will offer new blood tests for MS. The MS Center is located at 333 Longwood Ave.

One of the major advances in MS has been the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the central nervous system to monitor disease progression. An MRI-equipped imaging center dedicated to MS will be operational this fall only one block from the center.

"This center is wonderful news for patients dealing with MS," says Michael Panzara, MD, of MGH Neurology. "It will allow doctors to have a more focused approach for the treatment of the disease." Panzara, along with David Margolin, MD, and James Lehrich, MD, also of MGH Neurology, will be actively involved in the center.

The MGH/BWH center is distinctive in that it offers comprehensive clinical care with its own immunology lab, MRI magnet and clinical trials. "This is a new era in the treatment of MS, with new drugs, new combinations and new approaches being tested all the time," says Weiner. "In addition to developing the next generation of MS drugs, we are about to embark on a study that follows 1,000 patients over the course of 10 to 20 years to learn more about how the disease progresses."

Such innovations, he says, could lead to more breakthrough discoveries about how to treat this often-debilitating disease and will assist millions of patients like Graham to live as fully as possible.