Follow the link to see a list of researches who have received grants from the Canada and U.S. MS societies to
study CCSVI
Looks like the establishment is keeping with their slow poke conservative ways. No matter how many times they try to explain the need for more research I'm not buying it. Let me have the operation !!!!
5 comments:
Within a year---I'm predicting.
CCSVI Clinic Receives Joint IRB Approval for Aftercare Protocol Study.
The joint application between Noble Hospital and CCSVI Clinic has been approved through the IEC Institutional Review Board (IRB) that will allow researchers to use patient data to study their new extended and enhanced aftercare treatment protocol. The study hypothesis states that in MS patients with CCSVI undergoing endovascular treatment, those receiving the enhanced hospital aftercare protocol will have an improved long-term outcome over those patients not receiving this same protocol. The study is a Prospective, Longitudinal, Cohort Study in which patients are given the enhanced hospital aftercare and post-procedure protocol and then followed at regular 3 month intervals post-procedure, with the same measurements including symptoms and clinical examination, EDSS scale, Quality of Life Scale (QOL) and Doppler U/S.
Dr. Anand Alurkar, an Interventional Radiologist has done thousands of Intra and Extra cranial angio-procedures over the past 10 years. His previous studies may indicate that it’s critical to position and movement control patients who have had a venous angioplasty post-procedure, monitor them for days afterward with various imaging techniques, for other symptoms of restenosis, and re-treat if necessary. Previously unpublished data for patients who have had venous angioplasty may support a much lower restenosis rate (< 20%) in non-MS patients with the same neck vein blockages, (while conventional liberation treatments of MS patients who undergo the procedure are treated mostly as outpatients) have a restenosis rate of over 50% (at 400 days). Currently, this means that over half of all of the MS patients who get the liberation therapy can expect to be looking to get the procedure done again within a year or so, which would not be considered a successful outcome. This may also be the biggest hurdle to overcome in getting the liberation therapy approved in North America short of clinical trials. If the positive effects of the liberation procedure disappear in many patients after only a few months, it would be reasonable to assume they are placebo unless data is collected to show otherwise. Apart from confirming restenosis rates, the study will establish whether it’s just as important to observe a strict protocol after the procedure for a period of up to 10 days to prevent restenosis. Dr. Avneesh Gupte, an Interventional Neurosurgeon involved in the study says “If our daily Doppler Ultrasounds post-procedure come up with anomalies that indicate the beginnings of restenosis in the veins, we’ll take them back and do another balloon angioplasty where the occlusion is starting to occur. It should be no different for MS patients than the non-MS patients but the key is really that they be position controlled, movement controlled, and then monitored for 10 days afterwards to be sure”.Please log on to http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=830 for more information.
After 6 months of offering stem cell therapy in combination with the venous angioplasty liberation procedure, patients of CCSVI Clinic have reported excellent health outcomes. Ms. Kasma Gianopoulos of Athens Greece, who was diagnosed with the Relapsing/Remitting form of MS in 1997 called the combination of treatments a “cure”. “I feel I am completely cured” says Ms. Gianopoulos, “my symptoms have disappeared and I have a recovery of many functions, notably my balance and my muscle strength is all coming (back). Even after six months, I feel like there are good changes happening almost every day. Before, my biggest fear was that the changes wouldn’t (hold). I don’t even worry about having a relapse anymore. I’m looking forward to a normal life with my family. I think I would call that a miracle.”
Other recent MS patients who have had Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation (ASCT), or stem cell therapy have posted videos and comments on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFQr2eqm3Cg. For more information visit http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=838.
Dr. Avneesh Gupte, the Neurosurgeon at Noble Hospital performing the procedure has been encouraged by results in Cerebral Palsy patients as well. “We are fortunate to be able to offer the treatment because not every hospital is able to perform these types of transplants. You must have the specialized medical equipment and specially trained doctors and nurses”. With regard to MS patients, “We are cautious, but nevertheless excited by what patients are telling us. Suffice to say that the few patients who have had the therapy through us are noticing recovery of neuro deficits beyond what the venous angioplasty only should account for”.
Dr. Unmesh of Noble continues: “These are early days and certainly all evidence that the combination of liberation and stem cell therapies working together at this point is anecdotal. However I am not aware of other medical facilities in the world that offer the synthesis of both to MS patients on an approved basis and it is indeed a rare opportunity for MS patients to take advantage of a treatment that is quite possibly unique in the world”.
Autologous stem cell transplantation is a procedure by which blood-forming stem cells are removed, and later injected back into the patient. All stem cells are taken from the patient themselves and cultured for later injection. In the case of a bone marrow transplant, the HSC are typically removed from the Pelvis through a large needle that can reach into the bone. The technique is referred to as a bone marrow harvest and is performed under a general anesthesia. The incidence of patients experiencing rejection is rare due to the donor and recipient being the same individual.This remains the only approved method of the SCT therapy.For more information visit http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=838.
“Unnecessary risks are being taken by patients seeking the liberation treatment.” says Dr. Avneesh Gupte of the CCSVI Clinic. “It has been our contention since we started doing minimally invasive venous angioplasties nearly 6 years ago that discharging patients who have had neck vein surgery on an outpatient basis is contra-indicated. We have been keeping patients hospitalized for a week to 10 days as a matter of safety and monitoring them for symptoms. Nobody who has the liberation therapy gets discharged earlier than that. During that time we do daily Doppler Ultrasounds, blood work and blood pressure monitoring among other testing. This has been the safe practice standard that we have adopted and this post-procedure monitoring over 10 days is the subject of our recent study as it relates to CCSVI for MS patients.”
Although the venous angioplasty therapy on neck veins has been done for MS patients at CCSVI Clinic only for the last 18 months it has been performed on narrow or occluded neck veins for other reasons for many years. “Where we encounter blocked neck veins resulting in a reflux of blood to the brain, we treat it as a disease,” says Gupte. “It’s not normal pathology and we have seen improved health outcomes for patients where we have relieved the condition with minimal occurrences of re-stenosis long-term. We believe that our record of safety and success is due to our post-procedure protocol because we have had to take patients back to the OR to re-treat them in that 10-day period. Otherwise some people could have run into trouble, no question.”
Calgary MS patient Maralyn Clarke died recently after being treated for CCSVI at Synergy Health Concepts of Newport Beach, California on an outpatient basis. Synergy Health Concepts discharges patients as a rule without in-clinic provisions for follow up and aftercare. Post-procedure, Mrs. Clarke was discharged, checked into a hotel, and suffered a massive bleed in the brain only hours after the procedure. Dr. Joseph Hewett of Synergy Health recently made a cross-Canada tour promoting his clinic for safe, effective treatment of CCSVI for MS patients at public forums in major Canadian cities including Calgary.
“That just couldn’t happen here, but the sooner we develop written standards and best practices for the liberation procedure and observe them in practice, the safer the MS community will be”, says Dr. Gupte. “The way it is now is just madness. Everyone seems to be taking shortcuts. We know that it is expensive to keep patients in a clinical setting over a single night much less 10 days, but it’s quite absurd to release them the same day they have the procedure. We have always believed it to be unsafe and now it has proven to be unsafe. The thing is, are Synergy Health Concepts and other clinics doing the Liberation Treatment going to be changing their aftercare methods even though they know it is unsafe to release a patient on the same day? The answer is no, even after Mrs. Clarke’s unfortunate and unnecessary death. Therefore, they are not focused on patient safety…it’s become about money only and lives are being put at risk as a result.”
Joanne Warkentin of Morden Manitoba, an MS patient who recently had both the liberation therapy and stem cell therapy at CCSVI Clinic agrees with Dr. Gupte. “Discharging patients on the same day as the procedure is ridiculous. I was in the hospital being monitored for 12 days before we flew back. People looking for a place to have the therapy must do their homework to find better options. We found CCSVI Clinic and there’s no place on earth that’s better to go for Liberation Therapy at the moment. I have given my complete medical file from CCSVI Clinic over to my Canadian physician for review.” For more information Log on to http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=866 OR Call on toll free: 888-419-6855.
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