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CCSVI increases by nine times the likelihood of developing multiple sclerosis. "This figure is only the latest sensation emerged in the scientific debate about the relationship between CCSVI (chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, venous disease discovered by Paolo Zamboni,(responsible for vascular diseases Center University of Ferrara) and MS. "

The is in a statement Gisella Pandolfo, president of the non-profit organization CCSVI SM, adding: "the manner and timing with which it has emerged demonstrating, once again, as not all the stakeholders of this exciting discovery behave in a clear and unassailable way, this is something profoundly unjust-- in the presence of a highly debilitating disease that strikes in Italy, 60,000 people, mostly young adults. "... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/2944

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Translation from http://www.estense.com/?p=152794

"CCSVI increases by 9 fold the probability of developing Multiple Sclerosis. This resounding fact is only the latest to emerge from the developing scientific debate on the correlation between CCSVI and MS." This is the assertion in a press release by Gisella Pandolfo, president of the CCSVI in MS - ONLUS Association (http://www.ccsvi-sm.org/) who adds that "..the bureaucratic formalities and time it has taken to arrive at this conclusion demonstrates again how some dialogue participants in this passionate confrontation don't behave in a clear and unassailable way, which is profoundly unjust for sufferers of a highly disabling disease afflicting, just in Italy, 60,000 people most of whom are young adults."

"The incredible thing is that a finding of this magnitude has remained buried for many months because Claudio Baracchini (Dep. of Neuroscience - Padua Univ.), the author of the study, has not only chosen NOT to reveal it but to make the opposite conclusion, resulting in authoritative criticism by Robert Zivadinov (director of BNAC Neuroimaging Centre at Buffalo Univ.) Another researcher, Giampiero Avruscio (director of Angiology - Sant'Antonio Hospital
in Padua) emphasises the significance of the finding which until now has been suppressed. This reinforces Zamboni's theory that CCSVI could be one of the causes of MS.

Ms.Pandolfo reconstructs the milestones of the published papers. In the January 2001 edition of the Annals of Neurology, Baracchini compares the frequency of CCSVI in pMS patients (Possible MS, a diagnosis considered early stage which has a high conversion rate to Confirmed MS) to a healthy control group. In the conclusion Baracchini tends to negate the association between CCSVI and pMS and therefore negate the possibility that CCSVI has a causative role in the neurodegenerative disease. This paper has had ample exposure resonating in the media and has been cited as refutation of Zamboni's theory.

In the same Annals of Neurology there was published shortly thereafter the paper by Zivadinov in which he reviews Baracchini's data and in which he shows the high statistical significance between the pMS and control groups. Zivadinov berates Baracchini for his error of omitting to acknowledge the finding, and to have exemplified in the paper's title and expressed in the conclusions such concepts which do not correspond to the data presented such as now quoting Baracchini "..the results of our study contrast with the hypothesis that cerebral venous congestion plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis."

Following in the wake of this is the additional strong criticism of Baracchini's conclusions. According to Avruscio, applying to Baracchini's published data appropriate statistical tests, it is evident with a high level of certainty that the risk of developing possible MS (pMS) increases by 9 times in people with confirmed CCSVI; this therefore reaffirms the claim, that CCSVI is amongst one of the factors that contribute to the initial development of multiple sclerosis. This further underpins the thesis that a role at a minimum co-contributes to the genesis of the disease, contrasting with the alternative hypothesis of resulting only from a cerebral inflammation.

"In brief - ", concludes Gisella Pandolfo, "the irony is that it seems that Baracchini's own study in spite of his own conclusions is a goldmine of data and it confirms the "Big Idea" of Paolo Zamboni.

(The statistical difference discussed is an odds ratio, 9.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–78; p ¼ 0.0180)