Concerned about the Buffalo Study?

You shouldn't be... besides being old news about a study that wasn't completely done right, some of the hypotheses that the authours say are suggested by the study (such as maybe MS causing CCSVI) just don't make much sense, as Dr. Sandy McDonald says in this letter: Dr. McDonald's letter on Facebook.

MS without drugs

Here's a note from a friend in Ottawa who has MS:

I just saw a neurologist for the first time in a few years now. I chose to consult with one not affiliated with Mark Freedman and the MS Clinic of Ottawa because all they ever wanted to do was push drugs on me. It is very interesting what this new neurologist had to say about my first MRI that I had taken during my first attack a few years back. The doctor at the MS Clinic in Ottawa that diagnosed me told me that I had a very heavy lesion load for a first attack and warned me that I would be in a wheelchair within 6 months time if I didn’t start taking Avonex immediately based on the severity of this MRI. I refused to take Avonex after I researched it and this made the neurologists VERY unhappy with me. I returned a year later to show them that I was doing well and had no need for a wheelchair but they did not congratulate me or show any kind of happiness toward my state of stable health. The neurologist I consulted with this week read that same MRI from a few years ago and told me that my lesions were extremely tiny and not significant enough to warrant putting me on an immunotherapy drug! She also told me that given how well I’ve done since my diagnosis without any drugs that she would recommend I not take any. As you can imagine, this was a rather pleasant surprise to have a neurologist support my decision not to take any MS immunotherapy drugs!

Lew liberated two years ago

He has no stenoses, his blood is flowing fine, but he has had no other improvements after his initial ones, and his knee continues to deteriorate: Lew's story.  So CCSVI could be the whole story for RRMS people, but for us progressives there has to be more to it than that, which is not surprising since we have central nervous system damage.

N.B. to help MS patients seek controversial treatment

Yay for New Brunswick: Canadian Press story.  Another province is joining the fight to make CCSVI treatment more accessible.  A slightly more detailed story is on the CBC website this morning: CBC story.

Dr. Mehta's research results

These new research results describe a much higher (90%) incidence of CCSVI in MSers than was found in the Buffalo study: ThisIsMS.com thread. I sure wish that the Buffalo study had been done more carefully... and it's not clear to me why the BNAC study supposedly puts makes it so doubtful that CCSVI causes MS but, even if that were the case, it doesn't mean that it doesn't cause many of the symptoms associated with MS.  Certainly there are a lot of case studies that seem to point to CCSVI treatment significantly helping to reduce "MS" symptoms in many patients.

2 doctors, 2 different reactions to MS study

Hmm... it's a year-old study, but it's now starting to get some heated arguments going among the doctors:CBC Story.  At least now the arguments are out in the open.

MS vein blocking doubted

Although the updated details don't seem to bear out the title of the article, still this does add ambiguity to the entire affair: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/04/13/multiple-sclerosis-ccsvi-buffalo.html. I'll be interested in seeing the analyses of others into the actual research results.

One year later, MS patients track their progress

Thanks to CTV for continuing to follow this story: CTV update story.

Alberta government faces increased pressure for CCSVI trials

Keep up the pressure: CTV Edmonton story.

Reflux, revolution, and the role of forgotten research

This very readable paper helps to put the controversy surrounding CCSVI treatment in a historical context: http://www.uwomeds.com/uwomj/v79n2/weiss.pdf.