Review of the MS Trust Conference 2023
by Sara McGowan, Lead Physio.
Three staff members, Emma, Alison and myself were lucky enough to receive a bursary from the MS Trust and funding from the Samson Centre to attend this year’s conference. It’s always a fun and social event with lots of opportunities to network with other healthcare professionals working in the field of MS.
I really appreciate the opportunity to meet other Lead Physios from the MS Therapy Centres. This is an unusual job, so to talk to others doing a similar role is really helpful: understanding how other Centres manage their case loads, what types of treatments they offer, modalities that work….and those that don’t! We also visited the trade fair and spoke to various reps and have arranged some training on some new innovations.
I went to two excellent lectures. The first was led by two Consultant Neurologists from Tyneside. They discussed the diagnostic criteria of MS and how this has changed over the years. They described the challenge of diagnosing people early in their MS journey to facilitate early treatment but taking all the necessary precautions of misdiagnosing. The key learning points were:
- We are diagnosing MS earlier than ever
- Important as ever to ensure accurate diagnosis
- Clinically isolated syndrome can be the first sign of MS but not all patients will have a second clinical attack or develop MS
- Future changes to diagnostic criteria should allow earlier diagnosis
The second lecture I attended was on MS treatment, past, present and future, led by Professor Alasdair Coles from Cambridge University Hospital. It is 30 years since the very first DMT (disease modifying treatment) and there are now 18 drugs available on the market to delay disease progression and excitingly, one drug for secondary progressive phase of the disease, Siponimod. He talked about what MS treatment will look like in 30 years from now…. picture this:
- MRI scans read by Artificial Intelligence for speed and accuracy
- Drugs available for remyelination
- Drugs for neuroprotection
- Vaccinations to prevent MS
- Streamlined virtual appointments – no more 9am appointments 50 miles away
- Blood tests completed at home, sent in the post