Danuta Banska - MSA ( Poland ) Posted on April 7, 2010

Name: Danuta Banska                          

Sex: Female

Country: Poland

Age: 70

Diagnoses: Multiple system atrophy

Admission Date: 2010-02-22

Days Admitted to the Hospital: 34

Pre-Treatment:
Danuta was presented with progressive bradykinesia and equilibrium disorder for the past 2 years, accompanied with allolalia for the past year. She had difficulties with her movements when attempting to stretch her arm out and grab something. She also had difficulty writing. The movement on her left side gave her more problems. She received the relevant examinations at the local hospital, but did not receive a definitive diagnosis. The symptoms began as dizziness when she changed positions, and were accompanied with fainting. Danuta's blood pressure decreased noticeably after her seizures. The lowest blood pressure reading was 60/40mmHg. Danuta went to the hospital again, and was diagnosed with multiple system atrophy. She received medication to improve her blood pressure. The disease got progressively worse. Her initial symptoms included alalia, walking difficulty, intermittent dysuria, occasional incontinence and uroschesis, although this was not associated with frequent urination, urgency or pain while urinating. At present, Danuta is unable to walk independently, and must use the aid of a walker or another person to assist her. Danuta has agraphia, and a speech impairment, making it difficult for her to communicate with others. She had no problems with chewing her food or swallowing difficulties.

Nervous System Examination:

Danuta was alert but her speech was unclear. Her memory, calculation abilities and orientation were normal. Both pupils were equal in size; the diameter was about 3.0mm. The movement in both eyeballs was flexible and the pupils were sensitive to light stimulus. The forehead wrinkles were symmetrical. The bilateral nasolabial groove was equal in depth. The teeth were shown without deflection. There were no tremors in the muscles of the tongue, and she had a powerful soft palate lift. She could freely turn her head. The muscle strength of both upper limbs was level 5 and the muscle strength of both lower limbs was level 4. The muscle tone of all four limbs was normal. The bilateral tendon reflexes of both lower limbs were positive, the abdominal reflex was decreased, the bilateral jaw reflex was positive, the sucking reflex was positive. Bilateral Hoffmann's sign was positive; bilateral Babinski's sign was negative. Danuta has normal feeling and sensation. The finger-nose test was unstable; rotation test was slow and clumsy, with an uneven rhythm. The Heel-knee-tibia test wasn't accurate. Danuta was unable to keep her balance while in the standing position, without support. There were no signs of meningeal irritation.
  
Her family members read about similar cases and their successful outcomes at our hospital, on our website. After consulting with one of our doctors, the decision was made to come to our hospital for treatment.

Since the onset of the disease, Danuta's quality of sleep has been poor, and she only sleeps about 5 hours each day. Her diet is good, with no nausea or vomiting, has bowel movements once a day, intermittent constipation, and occasional difficulty with urination. Her weight increased by 10kg.

Danuta received all of the relevant examinations and was diagnosed with multiple system atrophy. She was given treatment in order to expand the blood vessels, given anti-free radicals, had her blood pressure stabilized, the neurons nourished and we activated the neural stem cells. This was combined with physical rehabilitation training.

After the treatment program was completed, Danuta's condition had shown some improvement. The finger-nose test is now more stable than before and her balance while standing has improved. The fluctuation in blood pressure has decreased. Danuta does not get dizzy anymore when she changes body position and no longer has fainting spells.

We hope Danuta will continue her rehabilitation training after she is discharged.
Danuta wrote to us in a card that read: "Thanks to all the staff members, you took great care of me for 5 weeks, and I have made a lot of progress, thank you very much. I hope you can help more people who suffer with this disease".

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