This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

in patients who had balloon angioplasty?

was curious as he seems to be one of the few experts in CCSVI and wondered if his re-setenosis rate was lower than the average?

Those who were fortunate to be treated by Dr S did you see dramatic improvements in mobility?
have you re-stenosed?

What veins did he check / balloon?

Adam

I think it is too early to get restenoses rate frm dr S as he has been using ivus for not a long time. At least some of us already asked him, but no answer yet.

i would even be more curious about scarring and collapse of the veins as they are hard to fix if they happen. You probably know that these were some of the main issues with large balloon before.

Right around when I went (Feb 12th) is when he settled on his current techniques. I would look at restenosis rates from February to present to get a sense of this.

I am three months out, having been treated by Dr. Sclafani. Both my jugulars are open and "dramatically improved" from their original state.

I am glad to hear that, Cece. It would be really good if we could present some convincing figures with his technique.

i can only say that i have had three phases in my treatments

1. the early phase from dec 2009 until May 2010. underdilation, missed subtle stenoses, poor understanding of IVUS. Mostly short term improvements. Since I was shut down in May, many patients moved on to other treatments or approaches.

3. November 2010 until February 2011. very large balloons, very high pressures, prolonged inflations, ala Sinan, aggressive treatment of hypoplasia. About 6 thromboses due to oversizing balloons or treating hypoplasia. some dramatic improvements, some recurrences

3. february 2011 until present. Refined balloon selections based upon IVUS, finesse in placing balloons eccentrically to keep most of balloon in largest area of normal looking vein and to place a "shoulder of balloon" near the focus of stenosis, with short inflations of 5-10 seconds. Seemingly better short term outcomes, but too soon to tell speak about restenosis. No recent thromboses.

I was the first in Dec09. Dr.S missed 2 stenoses. He retreated me in "the back alley" in June10, no ivus, ballooned a left ijv stenosis only. I was treated again April 16. My left ijv is still patent 10 months later (pretty remarkable - Sal, you're the man!!}, and he found the azygos stenosis with ivus this time.

I am in a wheelchair for 3 years. I progressed slightly since Dec09. I cannot move my legs at all but I can stand up. I have significantly more leg strength in the past 3 weeks, but I have no mobility. I am seeing other improvements that are subtle, and happening over time.

I'm hopeful that with proper flow, PT, good diet, I'll continue to see improvements.

Dr Sclafani did my 2nd angio 1/28/11 and I just had my 3 mo. followup with Dr Makris 5/2. Everything has remained the same since procedure with our good doctor

I think I AM seeing more successes right now with this new rational procedure.

however i also have my share of non repsonders.

this week i had a really interesting problem.

After treatment patient was noted to be very emotionally depressed, had severe pain all over the place, back ache and stiffness as well.

A family member noted that her symptoms improved in the evening

after much discussion we decidde that this might be seconary to arixtra and stopped it. patient then got better quicklyl. I SURMISE A REACFTION TO THE MEDICATIONS

just when i thought i was over the hump, another problem creeps in requiring some fine tuning. OH, WELL

Myself I had the "aggressive" ballooning and that discovered two stenosis that had been previously overlooked by more conservative techniques.

Donnchadh

_________________
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I was the Doctor’s second patient in February 2010. He ballooned my right IJV but did not treat my left IJV although it had a stenosis. At that time he wasn’t sure how to treat it so he didn’t. Azygous was fine. We decided to treat the left IJV but then he got shut down. I finally went back last week and had the left IJV ballooned. The right IJV has remained clear, 14 months out, and all other veins are fine.
I had improvements from the first procedure and feel some already from the second. I feel really good right now and hope it all holds. I wish everyone’s treatments went as smoothly as mine.
As BestAd said, he’s The Man.