Even though the Sonograms performed on me by two Parisian Angiologues revealed no abnormalities, I am convinced my veins collapse or “stenose” under stress. Other Doctors have been unable to duplicate Dr. Zamboni’s success in diagnosing CCSVI through the use of Sonograms which has tended to discredit his theory. The Interventional Radiologist Dr. Sclafani believes the gold standard in CCSVI diagnosis is the Venoplasty itself using the Intravascular Ultrasound. (IVUS). The IVUS Sonogram allows the Interventional Radiologist to determine the balloon size – too small the vein restenoses, too large the vein wall is damaged which may lead to thrombosis. He can determine the nature of the obstruction, valve problem, webs, septums etc..Thus many of the issues which led to early venoplasty failures have been overcome. (Patient testimony overwhelmingly supports the CCSVI theory, even though a common experience is the subsequent disappointment of feeling the veins restenose.)
The fact that the Sonograms are “normal” in my case implies that whatever venous stenosis exists is minor or transitory. This implies I can control the MS by reducing body stress and enhancing fluid circulation (acupuncture, massage, osteopathy, swimming etc.). In this I am not alone.
Matt Ambry, after studying patient testimony worldwide, went to Poland in 2010 where a Sonogram revealed his jugulars were “blocked” 100% on one side, 50 % on the other. He underwent venoplasty and enjoyed the restored blood flow for about 3 months after which the veins apparently restenosed. (He didn’t want to take the risk of having stents inserted.) He now keeps the flow going through intense cardiovascular exercise. In other words, the veins must narrow or collapse but exercise will open them, they are not actually obstructed. I use swimming and a portable “bicycle” device as well as osteopathy and massage to get the same results. See his excellent “recipe” for MS health. http://www.mshope.com
Interventional Radiology is a relatively recent specialty. Check out the WIKIPEDIA entry for Interventional Radiology.
“
Interventional radiology (abbreviated IR or VIR for Vascular and Interventional Radiology, also referred to as Surgical Radiology) is an independent medical specialty…that uses minimally invasive image-guided procedures to diagnose and treat diseases in nearly every organ system. The concept behind interventional radiology is to diagnose and treat patients using the least invasive techniques currently available in order to minimize risk to the patient and improve health outcomes.
As the inventors of angioplasty and the catheter-delivered stent, interventional radiologists pioneered modern minimally invasive medicine. Using X-rays, CT, ultrasound, MRI, and other imaging modalities, interventional radiologists obtain images which are then used to direct interventional instruments throughout the body. These procedures are usually performed using needles and narrow tubes called catheters, rather than by making large incisions into the body as in traditional surgery.
The accompanying Illustration shows
“Balloon dilatation of the stenosed internal jugular vein (photo from an X-ray angiograph monitor). While pressure in the balloon is relatively low, stenosis prevents the balloon from inflating in the middle. Further increase in pressure will dilate the narrowing and restore the full blood flow.
3
(A proponent of CCSVI must have posted this illustration of Venoplasty on the jugular vein.)
The Society of Interventional Radiology was founded only 40 years ago. This young specialty was developed by the Doctors themselves whose successful interventions rewarded them with a growing influence. So it can only have come as a shock that after 3 years of work on “liberation therapy” the FDA imposed an embargo on CCSVI venoplasty for MS patients outside of research trials. This meant insurance companies refused to re-imburse treatment. The treatment itself was not banned, but patients had to pay for it themselves, and all the negative press didn’t encourage them to do so. The IR’s had crashed unwittingly into the powerful MS lobby of drug companies, equipment manufacturers, and Neurologists. They’ve had to back off, not because the treatment is ineffective, but because they’ve trespassed on others’ territory.
The following posts published on the Thisisms.com website reveal the current disarray.
Cece May 2, 2015 CCSVI results
For me, the improvements were profound. At the same time, the controversy and maligning of CCSVI and unfairness meant that some people got it at great expense, some people got it at no expense, and some people didn't get it at all. There was so much misinformation and some of the misinformation was spread by the very neurologists that we go to for help. Based on my experience, what I've heard from others, the prodedure images that I've seen, and the logic and science, I think this is HUGE for people with MS, and I want to see it happen fairly. I want to see diligent research. I also know people on this board and I want to keep up with how everyone is doing. But mostly I want the fire to remain lit because CCSVI has the potential to help when, at least in my experience, nothing else helped.
Cece also posted the following:
http://www.macleans.ca/authors/anne-kin ... from-ms-3/
Maclean’s
« Time to liberate « liberation » therapy from MS » Anne Kingston Sept 24, 2013
“Anne Kingston explains why we’ve reached the WTF moment in CCSVI research”
Quote:
Salvatore Sclafani, a Brooklyn-based interventional radiologist, agrees. “We need to put MS on the back burner and focus on the symptoms,” says Sclafani, who has performed some 500 CCSVI treatments. “It’s about whether venous outflow obstructions can result in neurological symptoms. It is about whether opening venous outflow improves some clinical manifestations often seen in MS.” CCSVI has been “politicized, discredited, misunderstood, denigrated, slandered and rejected out of hand,” he says. He would like to see a movement away from whether CCSVI causes MS and toward a focus on the most effective treatment techniques and an understanding of which patients are most likely to benefit. “Failure to do so would do an injustice to those who have venous obstructions of the cerebro-spinal venous outflow,” he says.”
One critical issue overlooked at the outset of CCSVI “liberation therapy” was the potential for external structural obstructions of venous blood flow. Pressure OUTSIDE the vein – bones, muscles, arteries - rather than deformities INSIDE the vein could be at the origin of the blood “reflux” into the Central Nervous System. Not only that, these same external factors could disorganize circulation of cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) throwing pressure either on the veins draining the CNS or onto the spinal cord itself. (I’ve come to believe that Progressive MS concerns principally spinal cord damage rather then venous blood flow back jets into the brain.) These various possibilities greatly complicate correct DIAGNOSIS – and TREATMENT - of what has come to fall under the general term Multiple Sclerosis and have made it altogether too easy to dismiss Dr. Zamboni’s idea.
A brief aside. Upon discussing the vascular aspect of MS with my physical therapist (Kiné in France), I pointed out that 50 years ago there were as many men as women afflicted with MS, but that now up to 4 times as many women have the disease as men. “And what happened 50 to 60 years which might account for this development?” I asked. Immediately she replied “the birth control pill”. She had been describing her young female patients in therapy after suffering strokes, that the Pill had damaged their vascular systems. I said that when warning of dangerous side effects for female hormones, one should mention Multiple Sclerosis. “If one wanted to test the relation of the Pill to MS, one could do a statistical analysis.” I said. “But researchers will have to question the auto-immune theory of MS and consider the vascular factor. And the vested interests of the MS industry won’t easily allow such a study to surface if the vascular theory is validated.” She didn’t want to believe that the respectable Neurology profession would resist a scientific study if it contradicted what they had learned and were practicing.
And now we arrive at the real disgrace.
The MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is a critical tool in the diagnosis and treatment (and research) for MS in that it can visualize the lesions which are thought to be at the origin of the damage to the myelin sheath and consequent neurological deficiencies. These lesions are thought to represent an AUTOIMMUNE manifestion. My March 3 blog post goes into a detailed review of the following MS Discovery Forum article (published April 3, 2012) which discusses the advances in MRI technology for MS drug research http://www.msdiscovery.org/news/news_sy ... -meets-eye) (Definition from Wikipedia)
“Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI), or magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to investigate the anatomy and physiology of the body in both health and disease. MRI scanners use magnetic fields and radio waves to form images of the body. The technique is widely used in hospitals for medical diagnosis, staging of disease and for follow-up without exposure to ionizing radiation.”
However, of all the advances in MRI technology, the author Ingfej Chen fails to mention the first MRI inventor Dr. Raymond Damadian who has recently
“ invented a stand-up MRI system and has 15 MRI scanning centers across the United States. There are a number of independent MRI centers that use this technology both in the U.S. and around the world. The company conceived and built the world's first Upright Multi-Positional MRI, which was recognized as The Invention of the Year in 2007 by the Intellectual Properties Owners Association Education Foundation.[26]
(quote from Wikipedia entry on Raymond Damadian). Why is this oversight important?
Because the Upright Multi-Positional Cine MRI has revealed that once upright some MS patients exhibit cervical obstruction of Cerebrospinal fluid which is at the origin of lesions leading to neurological deficits. The Cine MRI can actually visualize the flow of the CSF, and obstructions of that flow.
This phenomena contradicts the Auto-immune theory of MS.
So we have an inventor of the MRI which is central to current MS diagnosis and treatment inventing an advanced MRI which denies the validity of all the MRI based MS research done thus far.
On September 20, 2011 Raymond V. Damadian and David Chu published the following paper: http://www.fonar.com/news/052114.htm
“
The Possible Role of Cranio-Cervical Trauma
and Abnormal CSF Hydrodynamics
in the Genesis of Multiple Sclerosis
Raymond V. Damadian and David Chu
FONAR Corporation
110 Marcus Drive, Melville, NY 11747
E-mail: rvdamadian@fonar.com
Abstract: UPRIGHTR Multi-Position™ MR scanning has uncovered a key set of new observations
regarding Multiple Sclerosis (MS), which observations are likely to provide a new understanding
of the origin of MS. The new findings may also lead to new forms of treatment for MS.
The UPRIGHTR MRI has demonstrated pronounced anatomic pathology of the cervical spine in
five of the MS patients studied and definitive cervical pathology in the other three. The pathology
was the result of prior head and neck trauma. All eight MS patients entered the study on a first come
first serve basis without priority, and all but one were found to have a history of serious prior cervical
trauma which resulted in significant cervical pathology. The cervical pathology was visualized
by UPRIGHTR MRI. Upright cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cinematography and quantitative measurements
of CSF velocity, CSF flow and CSF pressure gradients in the upright patient revealed that
significant obstructions to CSF flow were present in all MS patients. The obstructions are believed
to be responsible for CSF “leakages” of CSF from the ventricles into the surrounding brain
parenchyma which “leakages” can be the source of the MS lesions in the brain that give rise to MS
symptomatology. The CSF flow obstructions are believed to result in increases in intracranial pressure
(ICP) that generate “leakages” of the CSF into the surrounding brain parenchyma. In all but one MS patient, anatomic pathologies were found to be more severe in the upright position than in
the recumbent position. Similarly, CSF flow abnormalities were found to be more severe in the upright
position than in the recumbent position in all but one MS patient. Images of the MS patient
anatomic pathologies and CSF flow abnormalities are provided with comparison images from normal
examinees in Figures 1–16.
The Chiropractor Dr. Michael Flanagan (upright doc on the excellent site Thisisms.com) has been saying much the same thing since the 1980’s, though now we have a visual confirmation through Dr Damadian’s Upright Cine MRI. Dr. Flanagan’s comment following my blog entry of December 13, 2014 “MS Positive Feedback Loop”.
.
“I don't mean to toot my own horn but I started my researh in 1984 and published my first paper on the role of the vertebral veins in neurodegenerative diseases in 1987 long before Zamboni published his research. At the same time I described the role of the perivascular pathways and CSF as the lymph system of the brain and its importance to removal of wastes etc, decades before anything was mentioned about the glymphatic system. Considering Zamboni's theory versus mine, there are far more potential causes of venous insufficiency of the vertebral veins due to malformations, misalignments and deformation of the upper cervical spine than venous insufficiency due to malformation and blockage of the jugulars. Moreover, the vertebral veins are the primary drainage routes of the brain used during upright posture, not the jugulars and upright posture is used two-thirds of every day…
It is wise to make every effort to enhance blood and cerebrospinal fluid circulation in all neurodegenerative diseases to provide nutrients and eliminate wastes, as well as inflammation.
Swimming and aqua therapy are terrific for many neurological disorders."
His recent (April 27, 2015) advice to “Buggs” on ThisisMs.com
“Despite the mounting pile of evidence most neurologist still stubbornly cling to their beliefs that there is no connection between MS and traumatic spinal injuries.
There are several non-surgical and surgical corrections of the spine that could be helpful. The problem is that surgeons don't see the connection to the spine and so they don't see the need for surgery. My advice for now would be find a doctor (My insert – a Chiropractor) who is highly skilled in non-surgical treatment of the spine such as specific upper cervical, Cox 7 or 8 flexion-distraction treatment, sacrooccipital technique or cranialsacral therapy etc. You want to relieve structural strains and maintain the health of your spine as much as possible to prevent further deterioration and complication.”
Dr. Zamboni presented a paper on ChronicCerebroSpinalVenousInsufficiency (CCSVI) the summer 2006 and posted his theory on the internet December 2008. Dr. Damadian was given the invention of the year award in 2007 for the FONAR upright MRI. In some sense they observed the same thing at the same time, that the root cause of MS is the obstruction of fluids (blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid) bathing the central nervous system.
These concurrent discoveries imply that MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS IS CAUSED BY DEFECTIVE PLUMBING IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM..
Once diagnosed the question becomes, where is the obstruction and what is to be done about it?
Previously published on my site MS Cure Enigmas.net
http://www.mscureenigmas.net/