New “Liberation” Treatment Discovered for Multiple Sclerosis Patients

by Jamie Phillips

After Elena Zamboni was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and began experiencing the struggles common to MS sufferers: pain, fatigue, weakness, her husband, Dr. Paolo Zamboni embarked on an intense personal and professional journey to find some respite for his wife. He studied the brains of MS patients and found that nearly all of them had higher than normal levels of iron in their brains, and further, that these iron deposits were clustered around the veins that drain blood from the brain.

Using a Doppler ultrasound, he discovered that the veins of these patients were narrowed or twisted or otherwise damaged. He speculated that the vein blockages were inhibiting proper drainage; blood was pooling in the brain, causing damage to the surrounding tissues. In some cases, the heart-bound blood was refluxing back into the brain. He dubbed this phenomenon Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI), and hypothesized that there was an important link between vein blockages and the symptoms of MS.

His wife was the first patient he treated based on his new theory: he used a procedure similar to angioplasty to inflate a small balloon into the vein, allowing the blood to flow out of the brain properly. Elena Zamboni is now free and clear of MS symptoms.

He went on to treat 65 more patients, all too varying degrees of success. He says that this treatment is not a cure for MS, and it cannot reverse the damage that’s already been done, but it can prevent future attacks, improve movement and decrease fatigue. To many MS patients, whose greatest fear is a wheelchair, this is exciting news.

The United States, Canada, Germany, Norway and Hungary have the highest rates of Multiple Sclerosis. The illness is more prevalent in countries farther away from the equator, and in people with a Northern European background. Women are diagnosed with MS three times more than men. The typical onset of illness is between 15 and 40.

According to the MS Society, this autoimmune disease attacks the myelin – the protective covering – on the nerves of the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation and damage to the nerves. The nerve impulses that send information from one part of the body/brain to another are thus distorted or interrupted. The damage to the protective covering, called lesions or plaques, is permanent. The symptoms range with the severity of damage and the person, but can include dizziness, fatigue, balance problems, vision impairment, spasms, tremors, pain, and mood disorders. 20 years after onset, 60% of MS patients will not be able to walk.

The causes of MS officially remains unknown, but are hypothesized to be an interplay between environmental and genetic factors. There is no cure, to date.

Dr. Zamboni’s “Liberation” Treatment is giving hope to people with MS. Many patients are saying that if there is even a slight chance of improving one’s quality of life or if there is some shot in hell that they can retain their walking capabilities, then the risks are worth it.

Many Canadian scientists and the MS Society, on the other hand, are erring on the side of caution. In the U.S. clinic that has replicated Dr. Zamboni’s work, some of the results have not been so positive; at least two cases of serious injury have been reported. Because the procedure is still in its infancy, the treatment has not been approved in Canada. The official line thus far is that more research is needed for the Canadian medical community to begin advocating the Liberation treatment.

Many MS patients do not wish to wait. For them, waiting means more irreversible MS attacks and the ever encroaching specter of being wheelchair-bound or bedridden. At least 20 Canadians have flown to Poland to get the procedure done, and others are lobbying the Canadian government for research funding.

Posted by jamiephillips on April 13, 2010. Filed under Health and Living,International News,Medicine,News,Research,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.