Pretty controversial subject, but quite fascinating. Will be discussed at length at the SIR annual meeting in Chicago. Looking forward to DR. Gary Siskin's Double blind randomized clinical trial evauating this.
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/MS-treatment-put-to-test-in-Albany-721816.php
"It's almost an underground railroad right now, " she said. "It's not widely accepted. Neurology is so against it."
Despite the growing number of patients that say it works, there is no scientific evidence that proves the effectiveness of treating CCSVI, or even whether CCVSI is associated with MS.
In 2009, a vascular physician in Italy named Dr. Paolo Zamboni reported that 43 of 65 MS patients he studied had signs of narrowed veins. It was a breakthrough moment for study of the disease. Zamboni also performed balloon angioplasty in the patients' veins to widen the constricted vessels; many reported feeling better, although half the patients' veins went back to having restricted blood flow.
A follow-up study conducted at the University of Buffalo Medical Center delivered conflicting results. Buffalo researchers examined 499 volunteers, 289 of whom had MS. Preliminary numbers from the study show that 56 percent of the MS patients had CCSVI and 23 percent of the healthy people also had the condition.
Meanwhile, Zamboni's work was circulating on the Internet. Siskin said patients started calling his practice to see if doctors there performed the procedure. The physicians were skilled at breaking up blockages in the arteries of the heart, so it wasn't difficult to learn the pathways to reach blockages in veins. "The patients did really well," Siskin said.
CCSVI critics in the neurology community say that MS is an autoimmune problem, not vascular, and argue the vein abnormalities seen in MS patients are found in many healthy people with no symptoms.
The National MS Society is spending $2.4 million on seven studies to figure out the mechanics of CCSVI and determine if there is a link to MS.
"It's really important to address new ideas and find out if they are going to fulfill their early promise," said Nicholas LaRocca, the society's vice president of health care delivery and policy research, "rather than let people wait and hope and not really know."
In Albany, Siskin's study leapfrogs the research around the link between MS and the narrowed veins and zeroes in on the treatment of the damaged veins.
Siskin will enroll 130 patients in a double-blind, controlled study. All of the patients will undergo a venogram, in which a tube is placed into the veins to assess the width of the vessels. Half the patients will also get a balloon angioplasty to widen any restricted vessels. Since all patients will be sedated and have a puncture in their groin, the patients will not know whether they received the angioplasty, and the neurologist who assesses the patients will not know which treatment the patient received -- hence the "double-blind."
The patients will pay for the venogram, but Albany Med and Community Care Physicians will pay for the balloon angioplasty. Though the risks of the procedure are low, there are possible complications such as infections at the site of the groin wound, abnormal hearth rhythm, a puncture in a vessel, blood clots and veins that become narrowed again. "It's not something that someone would undertake lightly," LaRocca said.
Siskin's study will last about 18 months.
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/MS-treatment-put-to-test-in-Albany-721816.php
"It's almost an underground railroad right now, " she said. "It's not widely accepted. Neurology is so against it."
Despite the growing number of patients that say it works, there is no scientific evidence that proves the effectiveness of treating CCSVI, or even whether CCVSI is associated with MS.
In 2009, a vascular physician in Italy named Dr. Paolo Zamboni reported that 43 of 65 MS patients he studied had signs of narrowed veins. It was a breakthrough moment for study of the disease. Zamboni also performed balloon angioplasty in the patients' veins to widen the constricted vessels; many reported feeling better, although half the patients' veins went back to having restricted blood flow.
A follow-up study conducted at the University of Buffalo Medical Center delivered conflicting results. Buffalo researchers examined 499 volunteers, 289 of whom had MS. Preliminary numbers from the study show that 56 percent of the MS patients had CCSVI and 23 percent of the healthy people also had the condition.
Meanwhile, Zamboni's work was circulating on the Internet. Siskin said patients started calling his practice to see if doctors there performed the procedure. The physicians were skilled at breaking up blockages in the arteries of the heart, so it wasn't difficult to learn the pathways to reach blockages in veins. "The patients did really well," Siskin said.
CCSVI critics in the neurology community say that MS is an autoimmune problem, not vascular, and argue the vein abnormalities seen in MS patients are found in many healthy people with no symptoms.
The National MS Society is spending $2.4 million on seven studies to figure out the mechanics of CCSVI and determine if there is a link to MS.
"It's really important to address new ideas and find out if they are going to fulfill their early promise," said Nicholas LaRocca, the society's vice president of health care delivery and policy research, "rather than let people wait and hope and not really know."
In Albany, Siskin's study leapfrogs the research around the link between MS and the narrowed veins and zeroes in on the treatment of the damaged veins.
Siskin will enroll 130 patients in a double-blind, controlled study. All of the patients will undergo a venogram, in which a tube is placed into the veins to assess the width of the vessels. Half the patients will also get a balloon angioplasty to widen any restricted vessels. Since all patients will be sedated and have a puncture in their groin, the patients will not know whether they received the angioplasty, and the neurologist who assesses the patients will not know which treatment the patient received -- hence the "double-blind."
The patients will pay for the venogram, but Albany Med and Community Care Physicians will pay for the balloon angioplasty. Though the risks of the procedure are low, there are possible complications such as infections at the site of the groin wound, abnormal hearth rhythm, a puncture in a vessel, blood clots and veins that become narrowed again. "It's not something that someone would undertake lightly," LaRocca said.
Siskin's study will last about 18 months.
