This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

I'm quite curious about the stent operation.. I would be pleased if you (who know) could tell main things about surgery.

So far I know something like this:
- usually problems are in jugular vein/s or Azygos vein (typical to ms)?
- jugulars are at neck area? and Azygos lower, between heart and neck, and near spine?
- patient is awake during operation?
- after operation patient has to use medicine to keep blood thin?
- heeling from surgery takes time? maybe some headache, pain, bleeding problems some time?
- this stent-operation is something very new to ms patients?
- nobody knows yet what results you can expect in long run?
- some symptoms, like fatigue can ease quite soon after..?
- there are only few surgeons who have done stent operations to ms patients?

I put question marks after sentences, cause I'm not really sure if I have understood things correctly.. So, I'm eager to listen more about the surgery?

Is that Jim Morrision, Ernst? Wonderfully distracting avatar I have a good friend who just made a pilgrimage to his grave in Paris last week.

OK, answers-
This is all brand new research. It has only been months. Dr. Zamboni published his CCSVI paper in Dec. '08- although he has been studying this paradigm for several years. I sent the paper to Dr. Dake 3/09. My husband Jeff was the first MS patient to receive stents in 5/09. There have been three patients since. Dr. Zamboni has been performing "balloon" procedures on the jugular and azygos veins in Italy, not stents, for a year or so. Jeff's veins were too compressed, he needed the stents to keep them open. There is only one doctor who has implanted stents- Dr. Dake. Dr. Zamboni is working with him to use his procedure in Italy.
The patient is awake during surgery, in order to hold breath and report back to surgeon what they feel.
There is a healing process...the double jugular surgery seems to take the most time. There is headache, neck pain and shoulder pain- for approx. five- six weeks. Marie had complications due to bleeding at her femoral access site, which increased healing time.

Jeff is six weeks out from his surgery today. Since his MS issues were almost all brain related (20 brain lesions, fatigue, depression, brain fog) those were the first issues to show healing. We think this is due to restored oxygenation and perfusion time in the brain, rather than lesion healing. His one cervical spine lesion causes leg pain and spasms. These are decreasing, but are still present- no longer daily. Jeff has a new MRI on July 6...we'll know more then.
stay tuned,
cheer

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

ernst wrote:

jugulars are at neck area? and Azygos lower, between heart and neck, and near spine?

the azygos flows from the diaphram to the vena cava of the heart.
below is a thread on graphics which can guide you with vein location as well as nerve location. lower spinal than neck...thorax region.

http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-7399.htm

1233

That is Jim, so cool

Once again, thanks a lot - your answers really were most helpful. So, this is SO NEW treatment, wow. Hopefully Jeff's MRI will be fine and condition even better with time.

About anatomy - that link (Peekaboo) won't open. Something wrong with address or with my pc?

- Ernst

http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-7399.html

lets try again