The August arrival of Timothy West, MD, at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas means new hope for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Dr. West recently joined the staff and is building a comprehensive program that includes individualized clinical care, research into novel treatments for the disease and support for physical and emotional symptoms.

Dr. West's mother is afflicted with MS, so he has first-hand experience with the disease and understands its impact on personal caregivers and family. "The toll that MS takes on those closest to the patient can be tremendous. Our goal is to provide patients with the best care available today. But we also don't want to forget about their support network, so we provide services for family members and caregivers," he says.

To assist patients with activities of daily living, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health therapists already help with moving, walking, spasticity, short-term memory loss, and issues common to MS. Arrangements are being made to add social workers and psychologists to the treatment team to further assist patients and their caregivers.

Dr. West looks forward to being able to offer patients participation in research studies. "The center is all about taking care of patients and part of that is moving research forward so that we can continue to provide better and safer therapies."

He hopes active clinical research will help find answers as to how MS affects cognition, find better ways to predict which patients will progress more rapidly, and determine whether vitamin D deficiency contributes to the disease development or progression.

"Finding the underlying causes of MS will enable us to provide better treatment and, hopefully, some day, lead us to a cure," he says.

Photo:  Dr. Timothy West reviews paperwork Lydia Woltag brought with her from her general practitioner.