Results of ‘liberation treatment’ study for MS three years away

Researchers doing in the first national study of the controversial liberation treatment for multiple sclerosis wont reach final conclusions about its safety and effectiveness until 2016, says Dr. Anthony Traboulsee, the studys principal investigator, adding that his team wants to do open, honest research.

Researchers doing the first national study of the controversial liberation treatment for multiple sclerosis wont reach final conclusions about its safety and effectiveness until 2016, says the studys principal investigator.

In an interview this week, Dr. Anthony Traboulsee said he and his team are trying to safely expedite research into the so-called CCSVI treatment, pioneered by Italian vascular surgeon Paolo Zamboni, which uses angioplasty to open blocked veins in MS patients necks.

Theres such a lot of interest in it, Traboulsee said. People want to know the answers yesterday.

But though hundreds of MS patients have expressed interest in participating in the two-year study, the actual selection of study subjects has been slow.

Before patients can be accepted into the study, they must be assessed to ensure they really do have MS, are healthy enough to participate and fully understand what the study is about, Traboulsee said. They also need documentation that shows narrowing in their neck veins.

What weve been finding is that not everybody with MS will actually have this narrowing of veins, said Traboulsee, medical director of the UBC Hospital MS Clinic. Our finding is that maybe about 70 per cent have the narrowing.

So far, researchers have been able to assess about 50 patients, and procedures have been done on fewer than 10 to date, he said. People naturally find it frustrating how long it takes, Traboulsee acknowledged.

Three of the four study sites Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal have been approved to start work. Only the fourth site, Quebec City, hasnt yet been activated, Traboulsee said.

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Results of ‘liberation treatment’ study for MS three years away