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 .. but I am going to ask my doc to
gets some images of my veins...  heck I might even quit smoking (argh!!!
)

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