Ernst wrote:
so my questions are:
a) are MRV's common machines in every neurological hospitals? Or are they still rare "in the field"?
b) Can doctors make similar studies about CCSVI with different equipment, like ultra or mri?
They are the same machines used to perform your MRI's you had for diagnosis or in monitoring your progression, so they are very common.
From what I was told by my radiologist (the one performing my MRV & MRI), she said MRV's are done very commonly in her hospital, and when I rang another radiology lab, they also said an MRV would be no problem. They actually did the MRV and an MRI in one sitting; but the machine did make some new noises (different to my normal MRI machine). However, when I spoke directly with Dr Dake, he tried politely to ensure I understood that there was a technique for looking for the actual abnormalities they are looking for (as I found out by my Dr only requesting a scan of my head

). He recommended I get a CT venography scan, as it was less prone to operator dependencies. However, I chickened out after seeing the catheters in Zamboni's photo's. I do not know if they would of used a Catheter for my CT.
Dr Dake is very approachable and helpful, he offered to personally review the results from my CT venography.