Chronic Cerebrovenous Insufficiency Remains a Diagnosis in Question.
In 2010, Italian vascular surgeon Paolo Zamboni and his research team set off a flurry of excitement and optimism in the multiple sclerosis (MS) community with the publication of their findings that showed a significant reduction in the demylenization of the nerve sheaths in MS patients who underwent endovascular procedures to repair CNS veins that had narrowed through stenosis. Dr. Zamboni presented on that research at the 37th VEITHsymposium in November of that year.
In the two years since, a number of critics have taken aim at the diagnosis of chronic cerebral spinal venous insufficiency that Dr. Zamboni and his team identified as contributing to MS’s progression and at the use of vascular surgery to treat it. In the face of the controversy, MS patients and patient advocacy groups have thrown their weight with a sense of urgency into support of further research, with the Multiple Sclerosis Society sponsoring at least 7 different studies on CCSVI, and an online group the CCSVI Alliance actively promoting awareness of the condition and its implications for MS patients.
Now armed with additional data to update his initial findings, Dr. Zamboni returns to New York today to the 39th Annual VEITHsymposium, where he will be joined by both supporters and opponents of the CCSVI thesis in a series of presentations and open debate, in a session that is surely not to be missed.
Source: VEITHsymposium.
