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9. Recently you spoke out in favour of new medical discoveries to help alleviate the suffering of patients with MS. I’m thinking in particular of the so-called Zamboni therapy. Where has this research got to, and what is the reception for this new methodology in the Italian and the international scientific community?

Prof. Zamboni’s research has uncovered a close connection between MS and a vascular condition known as CCSVI, or chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency. Recent estimates claim there are about 60,000 MS sufferers in Italy. At present there is no therapy that is able to definitively cure or even prevent the affliction, but Prof. Zamboni’s discovery is fundamental because it helps slow the course of the disease. The results of this research are at present facing obstructionism by practitioners of the older methods and are attacking habits and interests which have long been consolidated. However, I hope all those concerned, at every level, can learn to raise their eyes from their universe of acquired certainties and examine Prof. Zamboni’s results, and the important new issues they raise.