Chemotherapy causes brain atrophy and demyelination

[cheerleader]

100--I never said all chemotherapies were the same. And you're right, Campath/Lemtrada is not a traditional, immune-ablating chemo treatment--it is a monoclonal antibody, and is not considered "neurotoxic." But it is still a systemic drug treatment, which has repercussions on the immune system, myelin and nerves. If this damage is due to a virus, or a new autoimmune disease, it's still damage which is initiated by taking Lemtrada. In the blog post at the beginning of the thread, I posted new research and said--

Chemotherapies cause brain atrophy and disrupt myelin---these side effects could be contributing to "MS progression" and increasing disability---which will be blamed on the disease progression.

Brain atrophy is becoming a more reliable marker of disease progression, and is related to disabiity. Yes, there are anecdotal reports of gray matter atrophy cessation and reversal, being followed on MRI, in patients treated for CCSVI. My husband is one of them. His thalamus, brain stem and third ventricle are all "normal" now. He has MRIs over the course of the last 7 years, documenting the healing.
cheer

[centenarian100]

Yes, there are anecdotal reports of gray matter atrophy cessation and reversal, being followed on MRI, in patients treated for CCSVI. My husband is one of them. His thalamus, brain stem and third ventricle are all "normal" now. He has MRIs over the course of the last 7 years, documenting the healing.
cheer

Interesting. I can't seem to find any actual case reports. It wouldn't be difficult to do a case series with 10 patients and see if this is a consistent effect. Grey matter volume isn't readily measured in routine clinical practice, so how exactly would you know this about your husband? Care to upload some images?

It's not entirely absurd to reverse brain atrophy and has been documented in various conditions (malnutrition, anorexia, alcohlism, kwashorikor, or even ultra marathoning)

for instance: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/10/170

...and maybe even in MS with testosterone...

(source: http://dbm.neuro.uni-jena.de/pdf-files/Kurth-NIC14.pdf)

[cheerleader]

Sorry, my bad. I went OT. I am not in possession of the MRIs--only the reports. There are no published case reports-yet. Brain mass, structure and density of the thalamus, brain stem and third ventricle can be assessesed using regular 1.5 or 3T MRI. This will be part of the after treatment patient monitoring as we move forward with CCSVI testing after venoplasty. The Hubbard Foundation Registry (approved by the FDA) is starting up again, and I'm pretty sure Dr. Zamboni is using this marker after treatment, as well.
You're absolutely correct! Gray matter atrophy can reverse in people with MS with exercise and other lifestyle changes. We consider venoplasty and all of Jeff's lifestyle changes (nutrition, exercise, meditation) part of his vascular "treatment" of MS. http://ccsviinms.blogspot.com/2013/11/a ... otion.html

We still do not fully understand the disease mechanism of MS. While MS specialists continue to operate under the assumption that a faulty immune system must be annihilated ----we are learning that the true progression of MS can be linked to neuronal loss, or brain atrophy. There is a terrible and tragic irony in the fact that chemotherapies, some of which have been shown to double brain atrophy rates in those with progressive MS, are being recommended to people with MS.

http://ccsviinms.blogspot.com/2014/03/c ... rophy.html
cheer

[centenarian100]

"We still do not fully understand the disease mechanism of MS. While MS specialists continue to operate under the assumption that a faulty immune system must be annihilated ----we are learning that the true progression of MS can be linked to neuronal loss, or brain atrophy. There is a terrible and tragic irony in the fact that chemotherapies, some of which have been shown to double brain atrophy rates in those with progressive MS, are being recommended to people with MS."

This is very misleading. I contacted Dr. Burt's clinic (Northwestern) some time ago, and I was informed without reservation that his treatment does not work in non-relapsing progressive MS and that he will only accept patients with highly active relapsing MS that does not respond to standard therapies.

You are right that non-selective cytotoxic therapies can cause brain/atrophy cognitive side effects which may be indistinguishable from progression of MS. I also think that the term "stem cell" therapy is very misleading as the active treatment is the cytotoxic drugs while the "stem cells" are simply the rescue therapy. However, the treatment can be very effective in highly active relapsing MS. Whether or not the potential benefits are worth the potential side effects (which are significant) is another debate.

[centenarian100]

"no inflammation, no response" -Dr. Burt

source: http://msj.sagepub.com/content/18/6/772 ... j;18/6/772