CCSVI: Angioplasty could work in a subgroup of patients

[frodo]

Chronic Cerebro-Spinal Venous Insufficiency in Multiple Sclerosis: Is It the End?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5880341/

It was published the long awaited Italian clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of a venous percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) to treat patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). According to the authors, venous PTA has proven to be a safe but largely ineffective technique; the treatment cannot be recommended in patients with MS [1].

Anyone who read the seven-page study, however, would have found a second, somewhat contradictory conclusion— that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results showed some people with MS, a degenerative condition of unknown origin, benefitted from improved cerebral blood flow, and further study was warranted: The delayed effect of venous PTA six months after the procedure on the MRI biomarker suggests a possibility that PTA may produce benefit for a sub-group of patients with MS. According to the authors this should be further analyzed and investigated [1].