00:00There are about 120,000 people affected by ictus every year in Italy and of these about 45,000
00:11develop neurological disorders such as spasticity, an invalidating condition that causes
00:16difficulty in movements with muscle contractions that make even simple daily gestures difficult and painful
00:22. Spasticity occurs in about 19% of cases every three months and up to 38%
00:29a year from the acute episode, yet today only 18% of people who overcome the acute phase
00:35receive a spasticity diagnosis and only 5,000 benefit from the correct treatment.
00:42More than half of the patients interviewed, equal to 57% then, have not been preemptively informed
00:49of the possibility that spasticity will arise after ictus, it is read in the report, and only a
00:54quarter declare themselves well informed about this condition that compromises the performance of
01:00simple daily activities with a negative impact on the quality of life of patients and their
01:05families. Information and tempestuousness of intervention are therefore the main needs
01:09emerged from the investigation conducted by Elma Research, a market research institute specialized
01:15in the health sector and promoted by Ipsen, a biopharmaceutical company committed for over
01:2030 years in neurosciences. The research was carried out thanks to the participation of a
01:26champion of 60 people with post-ictus spasticity and presented through a video testimony
01:32on the occasion of the world ictus day. Ipsen has always been committed in the field of
01:37neurosciences, as well as oncology and rare diseases, but in neurosciences specifically
01:43we are working hard in an area of response to the needs of patients and in particular
01:49in the post-ictus phases, thanks to our research and development and the investments we are making
01:55precisely to develop new and important therapeutic solutions in order to improve
02:01the quality of life of people who encounter ictus in their lives and who develop
02:07spasticity later. In addition, it is very important for us to continue working in partnership
02:15with patient associations, with scientific societies and with institutions
02:20in order to guarantee a path that is the most adequate and most appropriate,
02:24also multidisciplinary, in order to be able to allow all patients to continue their
02:30life as a normal life and with another degree of quality. An important element then for Ipsen
02:37is also the listening of people who live in everyday life, post-ictus spasticity and
02:42who takes care of them, as in the case of the members of the Alice Italia ODD federation,
02:47of which Andrea Vigniello is president. The management of the ictus in the right times, which
02:53are those precious to save neurons in our brain, therefore in the right units,
03:00then the whole process of rehabilitation, then there is a problem, going home after this
03:06path of rehabilitation with the right information. For example, this crucial theme of spasticity
03:13is one of those information that, since it is an effect that can also come weeks,
03:19even months after ictus, often patients, even those who turn to our association,
03:28were not ready to understand that these spasms, that these contractures,
03:35particularly invalidating, must be managed. And how can this problem be treated today,
03:41so invalidating? The management of spasticity involves the intervention of a real
03:47multidisciplinary team. Certainly, there are numerous approaches available, both pharmacological
03:56and neuro-rehabilitative. Both of these approaches must be started early,
04:02recognizing tempestually patients who go against an increase in muscle tone,
04:08in other words, to the emergence of spasticity. The medical intervention must be tempestuous
04:15and can be based on specific pharmacological therapies. In particular, among medical therapies,
04:22it is very important to remember botulinum toxin. Local infiltrations of botulinum toxin
04:28are an effective and safe treatment of spasticity, as, through these treatments,
04:34we are able to controllably weaken the muscles that present this abnormal activity
04:41that is at the basis of spasticity, allowing the residual strength of the patient to act
04:48those possible movements, if possible, and no longer hindered by this resistance
04:55that spasticity offers to movements.
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