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Research & development
Canadians to test new Multiple Sclerosis theory
TORONTO – Canadian researchers
investigating the relationship between multiple sclerosis and impaired
blood drainage from the brain and spinal cord will receive $700,000 in
funding for four projects, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada
announced earlier this month.
Between the Canadian and U.S. National MS Society, which are co-ordinating
efforts, more than $2.4 million has been committed to support seven new
research projects on chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI),
originally described by Italian Dr. Paolo Zamboni.
The studies are needed because its not yet known whether or how CCSVI
contributes to MS, the society said.
The research aims to:
• Confirm Zamboni’s findings of abnormalities in the veins draining the
brain and spinal cord in people with MS and whether CCSVI is a cause of
the neurological disorder or related to it in some other way.
• Resolve conflicting data from previous research, such as comparing
vein abnormalities in people with MS, other neurological disorders and
healthy volunteers.
• Assess whether blockages occur, and if so, speed up therapeutic trials
to determine if unblocking veins helps improve the symptoms of MS
patients.
The studies will not involve surgical treatment. Some Canadians have
gone overseas to private clinics to get an angioplasty-like procedure or
metal stents to open up the blockages.
It is expected most Canadian participants will be recruited from
existing lists of patients at MS clinics.
The teams receiving funding are led by:
• Dr. Brenda Banwell, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto:
studying vein abnormalities in children and teenagers who have MS, and
healthy controls of the same age. Banwell aims to determine whether
veins are abnormal at an early age in pediatric MS patients.
• Dr. Fiona Costello, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary:
Examining 120 people with MS compared with people with other
neurological diseases and healthy volunteers using ultrasound and
magnetic resonance studies of veins.
• Dr. Aaron Field, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public
Health: Using MRI scans of the head and neck in people with early and
later MS, healthy volunteers, and controls with other neurological
conditions. If the team’s results are similar to those published by
Zamboni, it would confirm the hypothesis and lead toward treatment
trials.
• Dr. Robert Fox, Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland: Studying people with MS
or who are at risk for MS and comparison groups, including healthy
volunteers and people with brain shrinkage from Alzheimer’s disease, to
determine MS activity and atrophy.
• Dr. Carlos Torres, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa: Using
powerful 3 Tesla MRI technology to explore vein anatomy to assess for
iron deposits in the brains of 50 people with MS and 50 healthy
volunteers of the same age. The studies should lead to a better
understanding of normal variations in vein anatomy draining the brain
and clarify the potential role of venous insufficiency in MS.
• Dr. Anthony Traboulsee, UBC Hospital MS Clinic, UBC Faculty of
Medicine, and Dr. Katherine Knox, Saskatoon MS Clinic, University of
Saskatchewan: studying the prevalence of CCSVI in people with MS and
controls without MS, using catheter venography, ultrasound, and magnetic
resonance venography, including in identical twins of MS patients who
have not developed MS.
• Dr. Jerry Wolinsky, University of Texas Health Science Center at
Houston: replicating Zamboni’s ultrasound methods, testing whether other
imaging methods can confirm ultrasound findings, and finding the most
reliable screening technique for CCSVI.
The two-year grants will begin on July 1.
The society is also calling on the federal government to provide $10
million for research into CCSVI and MS.
Posted June 17, 2010
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