The first procedure in the world was performed in the Mazowiecki Bródnowski Hospital in Warsaw, which involves implanting a gene responsible for the production of progranulin into a patient. The innovative therapy is to help fight temporofrontal dementia.
Mr. Piotr Szłamas leads a happy life, but recently he found out that he suffers from the same disease as Bruce Willis: temporo-frontal dementia. The famous actor is almost 70 years old, and Mr. Piotr has only just turned 30. Fortunately, he has almost no symptoms so far. – My mother was operated on three months ago and because my mother was operated on, there was a possibility that our family was burdened with this and we performed genetic tests – says Mr. Piotr.
It turned out that Mr. Piotr's body is indeed lacking the protein progranulin. It is its lack that causes neurological devastation in the temporal-frontal part of the brain, which leads to dementia.
SEE MORE: These symptoms may indicate dementia. They appear many years before the disease develops.
The patient may stop talking – like Bruce Willis – but personality and behavioral disorders may also appear. The patient may become taciturn, withdrawn, may laugh at inappropriate times and not want to leave the house. Doctors diagnosed many of these symptoms of the disease in Mr. Bogusław Urbanek. – At first, these were such mundane things that could happen to anyone – says Ms. Justyna Kozak, Mr. Bogusław's partner.
Same-day surgery: this is what medicine of the future looks likeMarek Nowicki/Fakty TVN
A pioneering procedure in a Polish hospital
Mr. Bogusław, a few months ago, was the first patient in the world to undergo a procedure to implant a synthetic gene responsible for the production of progranulin. He received it directly into his brain. The disease cannot be cured, but its development can be stopped. – I have the impression that you are a bit more active, I have better contact with you, I am more willing to start a conversation – assesses Dr. Gabriela Kłodowska, a neurologist.
The pioneering procedure was carried out as part of clinical trials by a team led by Professor Mirosław Ząbek from the Mazowiecki Bródnowski Hospital in Warsaw. – I think that the future will bring causal treatment, meaning that we will be able to repair what is broken in the brain. However, now we are administering something that is not there, i.e. a gene that will cause the production of a protein that is missing in the brain – explains the professor.
The second to undergo surgery, after Bogusław Urbanek, was Mr. Piotr Szłamas's mother – and now it's time for Mr. Piotr himself. – We are the only ones in the world who performed the first, second and now the third surgery. We are ultimately selected as the only center for Europe and Asia. In the States, the only center will be in Ohio. For now, we are the only center in the world that does this – emphasizes Professor Mirosław Ząbek.
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