This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2012/0130468.html
Under what is claimed, there is a list of 17 methods of treating CCSVI, and then three catheters and two implants. Someone put a lot of work into this.

Hello Cece,
If I were a US citizen I would formally object to this patent. Patents should be used for new discoveries or novel uses of technology. Someone is trying to make money, that's all.
MarkW

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Mark Walker - Oxfordshire, England. Registered Pharmacist (UK). 10 years of study around MS.
Mark's CCSVI Report 7-Mar-11:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8359854/MS-experts-in-Britain-have-to-open-their-minds.html

Prior to the patent application being published, it could have been protested: http://www.patenteducation.com/images/2 ... rotest.pdf
But it has been published. Now it can be challenged: http://www.ehow.com/how_2153628_challen ... ation.html
which involves going to court. Or there is also a re-examination process. I'm not finding any easy way to formally object. Nor do I understand the patent itself well enough to know if formal objection is appropriate.

Nice find, Cece.
These guys are for real, they work with Stanford and other world-reknowned cardiovascular groups. They will get these devices made and into the doctors hands. I spent time with a medical device designer from Silicon Valley at the first CCSVI conference, this has always been the desired outcome. They are not "trying to make money, that's all..." They're creating the tools that will be used to treat CCSVI in the future. This is how medical device design works. How else do we think the FDA will approve treatment? This is great news....it means the designers take this seriously, and the recognition of CCSVI is growing. Silicon Valley doesn't get involved unless there's something there. Thank God for Californian innovation.
cheer

Quote:

Founded in 2008 and located in Mountain View, California, Hotspur Technologies (www.hotspur-inc.com) is a leading developer of catheter-based technologies aimed at restoring blood flow for patients with obstructed vessels. The company's products are based on a unique technology that opens blood vessels more efficiently and less invasively.

http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/p ... 14/SF12757
http://www.hotspur-inc.com/team.htm

_________________
Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
dual stents placed 5/09
CCSVI in MS

Thanks, Cheer. I was concerned that someone would tie up the patent to such products and not make them, especially given that they seemed to be patenting everything related to the treatment of CCSVI. Now to read through their ideas and designs, and see if there's anything we haven't thought of in there.

Cece--
Make sure to read what this patent is really focused on, it's revolutionary....it's a prosthetic valve replacement for the IJV. Because valves are important. This is what Dr. Dake was discussing in his Hubbard Foundation presentation. Valves are necessary in parts of the body that have muscular constriction and cause venous reflux, like the neck and gastrointestinal system. This is why there are valves in snakes and other horizontal animals. It's not just about gravity, it's about how muscular contractions cause refluxive flow. And doctors who claim that IJV valves are inconsequential are wrong. Especially as the body ages and valve insufficiency becomes more pronounced--we see the affects in the elderly with TIAs and amnesia, even strokes caused by reflux. This goes along with the Taiwanese research on IJVV and TGA. We need working valves in the IJVs to prevent backflow during valsalva and muscular compression. This is why I have been so concerned about the removal of valves without a replacement mechanism. Glad to see this company is creating a venous valve replacement. Check out the pics. Very cool.

Just wrote a note about this for FB---thanks, Cece!
https://www.facebook.com/notes/ccsvi-in ... 6922262211
cheer

_________________
Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
dual stents placed 5/09
CCSVI in MS

I like getting credit, but credit should really go to Ken Torbert at CCSVI Locator, where I read about it: http://ccsvi-ms.ning.com/profiles/blogs ... ost:210548

If stents don't work well in IJVs and lead to stent failure and clotting and intimal hyperplasia, then the prosthetic valve could be expected to have the same issues. I'd take a working valve if I could get one (prosthetic or otherwise) but I wouldn't want any risk to my IJV. Life without outflow obstructions is So. Much. Better.

During my procedure, I was watching the live video of the IVUS of my azygous, and I saw a valve go by, but Dr. Sclafani shook his head and said that it was a healthy valve. It was interesting. If there is concern about possible ballooning of working valves, then IVUS would be the tool of choice to distinguish between fixed and working valves, and there could be a grey area of partially-working, partially-immobile valves.

Won't get into a debate on venous valves--we all have our views and doctors that we work with, and they don't agree...so why should we?
And I will add that Jeff's stents are flowing nicely and never thrombosed. He is certinainly lucky--his valves work, as well. Perhaps restoration of flow can keep a valve functioning? Something to be researched.
But I do think this technology may be of benefit to those who wish to pursue this avenue. And I'm heartened to see a device company addressing this need, and taking CCSVI seriously.
cheer

_________________
Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
dual stents placed 5/09
CCSVI in MS

I am actually still trying to understand the other side on this one. I think there is a question of whether what appears to be a fixed valvular stenosis actually is one, or actually is enough of one. And a question of if there is any way for an immobilized valve to become functional again. The valves are showing up on doppler because they are thick enough to be strongly echogenic, and unless they could 'slim down,' that thickness must interfere with proper functioning. Dr. Zamboni himself patented a device to slice off valve leaflets from within the vein instead of ballooning them.

Dr. Dake is brilliant, and I worry if his opinion is that valves are being ballooned that shouldn't be. What I do know is that there are a lot of doctors out there all performing diagnosis and treatment differently, and that it is not good for us as patients for there to be such differences and no clear route toward consensus.

Some of this does the work of a tube like my brother Bill has in his jugular for hydrocephalus. It mainly is a valve though. They have patented what I believe evolution invented, with notable additions. The valves are often destroyed to get good blood flow. Other alternative is porcine, with host/graft problems.

Reading it, I guess they probably had the help of Dr. Dake (and others). This invention, if it works, could be a blockbuster because it could be used in veins or arteries, and in the heart where they currently use porcine valves.

They seemed to have solved the problem of stent migration, which happened in one of Dr. Dake's first patients, in 2009, and necessitated open heart surgery. It has not to my knowledge been a problem, thanks to the bravery of the patient "radeck", but Dr. Dake has been prevented from doing his trial since then, by the Board of Governors of Stanford, I think. Royalties may offset liability settlements, if he or the University stand to gain.

cheerleader says it's a Silicon Valley startup.

A lot of this invention is in the devices' installation: they travel from the catheter' entry point at the groin, through the vein, to the site, where they are expanded. The jugular doesn't have to be cut.

One doctor in India is advertising a homologous stem cell transplant (probably from marrow), that, when added to CCSVI procedure, seems to be a cure for at least one guy, probably more.

Is this getting to be a surfeit of solutions?

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"Try - Just A Little Bit Harder" - Janis Joplin
CCSVI procedure Albany Aug 2010
'_MS' is over - if you want it
Patients sans/without patience

I read the claims for this patent (see page 12 of patent). It says that it covers methods and devices for treating CCSVI not just replacing valves as Cheer informs us. There is no published data on the percentage of valves which function after percutaneous venoplasty, so do not need replacing. Before opting for valve replacement it is logical to attempt repair of the valve. This site has many example of problems with stents and some cases of success, yet we have no data on stent usage.
My point is simple:
Do the simple balloon procedures first. Only consider stents or valve operations after this fails twice.
I realise this will not make me popular with the Alliance but my first question to these leading doctors is 'does this patent help the majority of pwMS??"
MarkW

_________________
Mark Walker - Oxfordshire, England. Registered Pharmacist (UK). 10 years of study around MS.
Mark's CCSVI Report 7-Mar-11:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8359854/MS-experts-in-Britain-have-to-open-their-minds.html