This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Q: Does Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) provide better information?

There are advantages with IVUS:

■• Extravascular soft tissues can be penetrated [by ultrasound] from within the vein
■• Can assess blood vessels not easily accessible conventional ultrasound
■• Provides an image with a greater resolution of both the lumen and wall

In BNAC’s PREMiSe study, they found overlap between noninvasive doppler ultrasound results and those from use of invasive catheter venography with IVUS. BNAC’s results and recommendations are:

We found an acceptable overlap between Doppler sonography, IVUS and CV findings

Therefore, a multimodal approach is recommended to determine whether CCSVI exists and to what extent it is present in various healthy and disease groups, and MS sub- types. In addition, future multimodal approach studies need to establish whether the binary CCSVI diagnosis should be revised, with the introduction of more quantitative criteria that will provide the degree of extracranial venous structural and functional impairment