'Liberation therapy' trial recruitment brisk

Brandon Sun - ONLINE EDITION

By: Larry Kusch

Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014 at 6:43 AM | Comments: 0

A NATIONAL clinical trial testing the effectiveness of a controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis is halfway to meeting its recruitment goal, and Manitobans are playing a prominent role.

Dr. Anthony Traboulsee, director of UBC Hospital's MS Centre in Vancouver, the study's lead researcher, said 17 Manitobans are among the 51 Canadians enrolled so far. He hopes to have 100 MS sufferers recruited across the country by Feb. 1.

"I'm pretty confident that Winnipeg could potentially be the top recruiting site," Traboulsee said in a telephone interview on Friday. "All of the ducks have lined up in Manitoba beautifully."

Winnipeg is one of four sites for the $6-million national clinical trial announced in September 2012. The others are in Vancouver, Montreal and Quebec City.

The Manitoba government is footing part of the cost of the research.

The clinical trial is assessing the effectiveness of the so-called liberation therapy for treating MS pioneered by Italian researcher Dr. Paolo Zamboni in 2008. It involves improving blood flow in neck veins. The Italian vascular surgeon believes a condition, dubbed chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI, is the cause of the disease.

Multiple sclerosis causes the destruction of myelin, the protective sheath around nerves throughout the body, leading to progressive physical and cognitive disability. An estimated 55,000 to 75,000 Canadians have MS, and the country has one of the highest rates of the incurable disease in the world.

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'Liberation therapy' trial recruitment brisk