Achh..Where's Marc? He explains this so well. It does make sense. The surgery itself is risky, but finding out if it's a problem just takes a good MRI and someone who knows what they're looking at. It would be good to know how many MSer's have some kind of blockage or narrowing. I think it's a promising line of investigation!

There's a new technology, a helmet that looks like an alien Trojan soldier's helmet (google Brain bucket) you wear using a new type MRI machine, that really shows veins and stuff (lesions in particular) much better and is way faster than traditional MRI. Is it anywhere I go? No.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7493337&page=1


Here's an URL (I think)

Good link. Thanks Kicker. Better than laying down and getting the whole body enclosed. Great information. I wonder what they charge for that one? Hmm

It should be same as traditional MRI and if you were covered by insurance, should be again. Johns Hopkins didn't have it, I sent my neuro the info last spring as he knew nothing about it!!

I also think its promising although I'm thinking more about possibly stalling progression as opposed to curing MS or being the actual cause of our illness.

FWIW my leg circulation is poor, always has been, and standing on my feet for work all these years has taken its toll. In an odd way it would make sense that I have blocked channels elsewhere also I guess. I'd like to give it a bit more time before I went through a needless operation but I'm not concerned with the operation itself being risky. As things get wose I'd rather die trying I guess.

I'm taking part in this research study:

http://www.ms-mri.com

I hope to find out if my veins are stenosed by taking part. I'd do the stents or balloon angioplasty in a heartbeat. The Charing Cross report (HERE) found that opening up the veins resulted in a four-fold reduction in relapses, plus any future relapse was due to a reoccurence of stenosis. When the stenosis was treated, the relapse resolved within four hours to four days. Speaks volumes. Plus, this is the only treatment that has been shown to significantly reduce MS related fatigue.

Most of the CCSVI research is here. It's worth in in-depth read. I'm personally not willing to wait the years that it will take to be hashed out--even if it's not the "magic bullet" for MS it can only be good to open the veins that lead to the brain.

hello. i have rrms dx in 2001. upon being scanned for a problem with my swallowing, 2 cysts showed up on my thyroid. at the bottom of the mri was a note saying:
cardiomegaly and borderline pulmonary vasculature. when i asked the dr about the results, he dismissed the note and told me its nothing, not to worry. this was 3 yrs ago. i have many symptoms that were pushed aside... should i disregard this notation in the scanned results or should i have looked into this further? i should say even before the test was taken, i had been to the e.r. a few times for palpitations and for a resting pulse of 140 or over. waiting for my dr to return to send me for follow-up with scan on neck... somehow, i think the research for ccsvi makes alot of sense and answers alot of the questions i have had over the past few years... anyone else with ms had any scan results noting cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) or pulmonary vasculature? i would appreciate feedback if anyone has. Thanks so much,
MamaGirl
thank you very much for your help...
MamaGirl

MamaGirl, I've been accused of having too big a heart but somehow I don't think it was cardiomegaly or pulmonary vasculature.

I don't have any answers but if I found something like that on my MRI report and my neurologist dismissed my questions I would press it further and do some immediate investigating to understand what it meant as far as MY body went, and possibly even go looking for a new neuro.

When it comes to my health and my body I want it explained, and if the doctor doesn't have time to explain it in detail for me, I want one who will, even if they consider it something "minor",because after educating myself, I would wonder WHY MY doctor, who is supposed to be a PARTNER in MY being as healthy and happy as I can be, wasn't referring me to a cardiologist!

I hope someone here can help you to find an answer!

This is being broadcast tomorrow (sorry if it's a repeat, W5 airs on CTV - Canada):

Statement from the Executive Producer of W5:

We at W5 are excited by the worldwide interest being expressed in Avis Favaro's report about the new therapy being used by Dr. Paolo Zamboni and now being studied in North America.

To confirm, our documentary "The Liberation Treatment" will be broadcast on the CTV television network (seen in Canada at 7 pm local time) Saturday, November 21. W5 is also available via the Internet at www.W5.ctv.ca - online information about our documentary will be available approximately 6 pm Eastern Time. Avis' report will be available for viewing, without subscription, after 7 pm Eastern Time. Unlike entertainment programs there are no restrictions on viewing W5 stories from anywhere in the world - assuming you've got the bandwidth to stream the video.

If you get to the site - just click through the main-page story and you'll be taken to the viewing page. Note that each part of the story - this one is in two parts - play separately after a brief ad, so be sure to look for the second part after viewing the first part. You need to select it as it does not play automatically. Our documentaries typically remain available on the site for many months.

As a matter of background for those unfamiliar with W5 - we are the longest-running newsmagazine/documentary program in North America, now in our 44th season. We are also the most-watched and most-respected program of its type in Canada.

Anton Koschany
Executive Producer
W5

So it's nice to see that this will be available worldwide for everyone to see (nothing worse than getting a black out from being from another country! Grr!).

I'm very excited to watch this show