This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

I posed this question on the patientslikeme.com site, but I'm also posting it here for those who don't check both sites.

For all you medical types -
Maybe we're quibbling over what to call the diagnosis rather than dealing with the severity of the problem?

For a moment, forget about MS (yeah, like that's possible). If a patient gets scanned for any reason and the doctor finds the type of blockages in veins that we're seeing in the CCSVI studies, does it require further medical attention?

Maybe the presence of a blockage shouldn't necessarily require any intervention. As I understand it, angioplasties may collapse and require repeated treatment. The problem with stents is that they can get dislodged and then you need further, more invasive surgery to remove them. And any procedure has its own inherent risks.

There are many neurologists who are very against CCSVI as it relates to MS. But what do the vascular folks think about it, just in terms of blockages? Obviously, no blockage is a good one, but would these normally be treated as a vascular condition? Especially now that CCSVI is a recognized congenital condition, won't this give us more leverage for treatment, assuming the blockage(s) found are significant?

And, boy, wouldn't that solve a lot of insurance problems in the short term while the CCSVI/MS issue gets sorted out?

I am completely in favor of the continuation of study regarding the effects of CCVSI on MS patients. This concept mirrors what's going on in Buffalo. They're continuing to look at how these blockages affect MS patients, but they're running a (small) parallel study of treating them with angioplasties.

Rosegirl

An article in the Saturday edition of the Cape Breton Post emphasizing the importance for action to get people screened for CCSVI. No mention of getting a surgery, because that is a little too early to pursue - many issues have to be addressed in terms of safety and efficacy.

But, for goodness sake, why can't governments step in and help fund a screening program? Canada didn't hesitate in donating millions to Haiti (which was the right thing to do) but also didn't hesitate in losing countless Canadian lives and many millions on a war in Afghanistan!

Quotes from some very inspirational and eloquent people:

Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.~Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), My Several Worlds [1954].

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.
~Samuel Johnson, Boswell: Life of Johnson

The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.~John E. E. Dalberg, Lord Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity, [1877].

"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. " ~ Last Speech of Hubert H. Humphrey

"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Ghandi

"Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members -- the last, the least, the littlest."
~Cardinal Roger Mahony, In a 1998 letter, Creating a Culture of Life

The greatness of America is in how it treats its weakest members: the elderly, the infirm, the handicapped, the underprivileged, the unborn. ~Bill Federer

"A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying,"
~Pope John Paul II

I am in no position to judge unless I myself want to be judged by others. However, I believe every society must live up to a standard which separates itself from the animal kingdom, in which the strong survive and the weak perish.

Just my opinion, but one in which I strongly believe.