The Liberation treatment: a cure for MS?

Chantelle Sylvester is a 21-year-old Niagara College student. In many ways, she is not very different from other students her age. She has a part-time job, she enjoys the company of her friends and boyfriend and she spends a lot of time studying.
But in one way, Sylvester is different from most students; Sylvester has Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis.
"I am fortunate enough to have been diagnosed so early in my life, as there is a greater potential that my treatment will be more effective," said Sylvester. "However, it has still been really hard to accept and deal with thoughts about what may happen to me in the future."
Recent research by a Professor of Medicine in Ferrara, Italy has been of interest to many, especially the 2.5 million people worldwide who, like Sylvester, suffer from Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Dr. Paolo Zamboni has discovered what he believes to be a possible cause of MS. It has been commonly known as a disease affecting the autoimmune system, but Zamboni claims it to be vascular. After using ultrasounds to examine blood flow in the necks of MS patients, Zamboni found almost all the individuals to have either a narrowing or blockage in the veins that drain blood from the brain. Zamboni believes these blocked pathways could be causing a build up of iron in the brain. This excess iron can cause inflammation and cell death, trademarks of MS.
This research is startling because it is still unknown what causes MS. In individuals with MS, the protective covering on the brain and spinal cord, or myelin, is attacked. This causes inflammation and damage to the myelin in patches, and these patches result in a disruption of the usual flow of nerve impulses.
The result of these disrupted nerve impulses is an array of symptoms depending on what parts of the central nervous system are affected. MS is unpredictable and each person is affected differently. Symptoms commonly include numbness or tingling, extreme fatigue, loss of balance or difficulty walking, heat sensitivity or vision disturbances. Zamboni named the vein disorder Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCVI). After making this discovery, he wondered what would happen if he unblocked these pathways to restore normal blood flow. With the help from vascular surgeon Dr. R. Raleotti, also from the University of Ferrara, Dr. Zamboni performed what he has dubbed the Liberation Treatment on 65 MS patients. Like a standard angioplasty, where surgeons use balloons to open clogged arteries around the heart, Zamboni opened blocked veins in the necks of MS patients to create normal blood flow from the brain.
And the results were more than startling. Patients had a decrease in MS attacks, a reduction in the number of brain lesions and improved quality of life.
"This is such a groundbreaking discovery for the world of MS; for researchers, doctors and patients," Slyvester said. "I have been overwhelmed with mixed emotions; while I am excited and happy, I still remain confused and impatient. There is still so much to learn about MS and I am hopeful that this is one more piece to the puzzle to figuring out something so extremely complex."
Sylvester, like others with MS, want to see a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. Further research into this groundbreaking discovery is a step in the right direction.
"Our country has one of the highest rates of Multiple Sclerosis in the world," continues Sylvester, "I just hope that the MS Society of Canada gets all the funding they can so we can start our own studies and figure out where to go from here."
If you would like to make a contribution toward research for a cure for MS, or for more information on the disease, log-on to the MS Society of Canada Web site at mssociety.ca.