Hi folks,
I was just catching up on the news regarding Italian researcher Dr. Paulo Zamboni and MS. He feels it is a vascular disease not an immune disease (his wife was dignosed with MS and so the research...).
From one article I read this morning:
===
A group of researchers in Italy is proposing a revolutionary new theory about Multiple Sclerosis. They've offered some compelling evidence that MS is primarily a vascular disease, and that the neurologic damage seen in MS patients has its genesis in blood flow problems within the veins of those patients. They're calling this theory Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency, or CCSVI for short.
The Italian researchers, led by Dr. Paolo Zamboni, imaged the veins leading from the brain and spinal cord of several hundred MS patients, and found that virtually all of them showed evidence of a narrowing or blockage of these vital
vascular pathways. Specifically, they found blockages or stenosis in the jugular and/or azygos veins of the MS patients they studied, findings not seen in healthy control subjects or in patients with other vascular or neurolgic conditions.
These researchers theorize that these blockages constrict the flow of blood leaving the central nervous system, causing a reflux of blood back into the brain and/or spine. This reflux leads to edema and inflammation, which in turn leads to an immune response, which then leads to the lesions that are the hallmark of Multiple Sclerosis.
A group of patients who congregate online at ThisisMS.com have become convinced
that there is significant merit to this theory. Here is a link to a thread on that site which contains all of the research behind the CCSVI theory, and discussions pertinent to it. One of these patients managed to contact a highly respected vascular doctor at Stanford University, Dr. Michael Dake,. who looked
over the research materials and agreed that there might indeed be something to this radical approach.
Dr. Dake and his colleagues have themselves begun imaging the vascular systems of MS patients, and have found results similar to those of the Italian researchers. The Stanford group has gone so far as to start surgically clearing
the blocked veins of MS patients, by placing stents at the sites of the blockages.
===
Here is a link to a thread on that site which contains all of the research behind the CCSVI theory, and discussions pertinent to it.
http://www.thisisms.com/forum-40.html
My comments... Wouldn't that be a trip if this works out for MS ... a bain for the pharma world as well.. I'm not looking forward to getting a stent in my juglar and other veins <g>.. but I am going to ask my doc to gets some images of my veins... heck I might even quit smoking (argh!!! <g>)
You can sign a petion here for fasttracking of research and studies in the US:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/32858.html
This is a link to Dr. Zamboni's research paper.
http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/80/4/392.full?sid=212f095d-cf09-41ab-894d-66424bd84 039
Oh, btw, you Canadians seem to be lucky in this - from what I understand this new treatment has been reported in Canada and in Europe.. but NOT much in the U.S. (not surprising :( )
Take care,
Janis
--- BBBS/LiI v4.01 Flag
* Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38)