From the large attendance and new doctors and new research discussed at ISNVD last week, it appears that there is a growing interest in studying the impaired venous systems and hypoperfusion found in pwMS.
Here are two examples of
high-profile US neuroscientists looking at CCSVI:
One of the new doctors looking into CCSVI and the connection to MS is Dr. Bruce Trapp, chairman of the Department of Neurosciences at the Cleveland Clinic. From the Dana Foundation, a write up on MS research in 2010 which features Dr. Trapp-
Dr. Trapp is an innovator--
Quote:
Trapp was the lead author of a 1998 article in the New England Journal of Medicine that transformed thinking about MS, which up to that time was thought to affect only myelin. He showed that MS also damages the nerve fibers themselves, which probably accounts for the severe long-term disability that afflicts some patients....
And if the past decade is any indication, the years ahead will bring much more effective treatments, according to Trapp.
“I don’t see a cure until we know the cause, and we don’t know the cause,” he said. “But we are making strides. What we’ve accomplished in the last ten years has been remarkable.
And what Dr. Trapp is now studying is how MS looks to be a disease of hypoxic injury to axons which precedes loss of myelin. This is why he is interested in looking at CCSVI, and this is what he spoke about in Bologna.
Dr. Berislav Zlokovic is Director of Neurodegenerative and Vascular Brain Disorders at the University of Rochester (Jeff and my alma mater, Eastman, is part of the U of R) and I have corresponded with him since 2008 and my first endothelial research. I had read his work in my alumni newsletters, and was fascinated to see his research into the brain's endothelium and neurovascular disease.
Dr. Zlokovic delivered the keynote speech at the conference on the role of the vascular system in neurodegenerative disease. He is very interested in CCSVI studies, and understands the mechanism of injury behind venous insufficiency, the BBB and disruption of tight junctions.
Quote:
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a highly specialized brain endothelial structure of the fully differentiated neurovascular system. In concert with pericytes, astrocytes, and microglia, the BBB separates components of the circulating blood from neurons. Moreover, the BBB maintains the chemical composition of the neuronal “milieu,” which is required for proper functioning of neuronal circuits, synaptic transmission, synaptic remodeling, angiogenesis, and neurogenesis in the adult brain. BBB breakdown, due to disruption of the tight junctions, altered transport of molecules between blood and brain and brain and blood, aberrant angiogenesis, vessel regression, brain hypoperfusion, and inflammatory responses, may initiate and/or contribute to a “vicious circle” of the disease process, resulting in progressive synaptic and neuronal dysfunction and loss in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and others. These findings support developments of new therapeutic approaches for chronic neurodegenerative disorders directed at the BBB and other nonneuronal cells of the neurovascular unit.
http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S08 ... %2900034-2
Here, again, is the link to the abstracts from the ISNVD. There is much excitement in the neurovascular community, and I believe these new scientists will bring even more understanding and healing.
http://ccsvism.xoom.it/Convegno_ISNVD.html
onward!
cheer
_________________
Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
dual stents placed 5/09
CCSVI in MS 
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