This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

So i think that some of those who have had venograms that appear normal just havent had all the right imaging done.

This condition [May-Thurner syndrome] is vastly underdiagnosed. It is impossible to discover with ultrasound and even difficult to discover with venography (phlebography). It is definitely not discoverd through the evaluation of the arteries. The only certain way to discover it is by means of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) where the probe is inside the vein. The best research has been done by Neglén and Raju in Jackson, Miss.

Yes. Dr. Raju is also a personal friend of Dr. Zamboni. As a matter of a fact, Dr. Raju had just returned home from a visit with him when he approached me about the [CCSVI] study. I am a registered vascular technologist and the chief vascular technologist where Dr. Raju works and have seventeen years of experience in ultrasound. He along with a neurologist here have been sending patients to me for an ultrasound of the intracranial veins as well as the juglar veins. I follow the procedure that Dr. Zamboni has outlined in his study. As someone else here has already mentioned, a lot of vascular technologist scan the juglar veins on a regular basis for the purpose of ruling out a blood clot. There are not a whole lot of technologist that scan the intracranial arteries let along the intracranial veins. The scanning of the intracranial veins should definitely be done by a registered vascular technologist with lots of experience in transcranial doppler and a heart and desire to help with the validation of what Dr. Zamboni has already seen with the research that he has done. I can tell you that as a vasular technologist that scans venous patients everyday for chronic venous insufficiency of the lower extremities, (which requires the patient to be standing the whole time) it is very taxing physically to scan a patient in an upright position. That is why I say that a technologist must have the heart and desire as well as skill. Essentially, Dr. Zamboni is to CCSVI what Dr. Raju is to CVI. They are both pioneers in their fields and have brought the world of CVI and now CCSVI to us as we know it and are beginning to know it.

That ultrasound is quite specific. The Doppler is quite relevant and the images need to be taken in just the right way, otherwise the diagnosis is unclear.


So it is clear that we need to create a standard. that standard needs to be specific, reproducible and simple.


by the time i learn this one, paolo may have perfected a US test that is easier to do with similar reliability.

...i am not sure that "illness" brings on old symptoms when sick. perhaps it is the stress? I will look around.

if illness leads to stress???...

That ultrasound is quite specific.

Examining blood samples of 20 19-year-old Israelis who were inducted into the army as healthy soldiers, and the nine of them who later developed MS, Achiron and her team at Sheba were able to use a "high throughput analysis" with more than 12,000 gene transcripts expressions. The screening compared similarities and differences in the blood of those who developed MS and those who did not, eventually establishing biological markers.

"Those who will develop MS will show a different blood signature from those who will not," states Achiron. "When we compared the gene expression signatures, we saw a similar pattern of the same working biological processes."

These early genetic markers may now be used to test for MS up to nine years before healthy young adults start developing symptoms. And because MS is thought to have a genetic component and a tendency to be found in siblings, Achiron foresees that the biomarkers will be used as a tool for brothers and sisters of patients.

a waste of time if only diagnostic.
would love to see the study protocols to determine their relevance

How can evaluating the lumbar veins be helpful? it is helpful in explaining the disease. at the current time, there is no solution to the lumbar vein narrowings (hypoplasia). But it can explain the disease. It appears that lumbar hypoplasia is associated with PPMS.

These early genetic markers may now be used to test for MS up to nine years before healthy young adults start developing symptoms. And because MS is thought to have a genetic component and a tendency to be found in siblings, Achiron foresees that the biomarkers will be used as a tool for brothers and sisters of patients.