Canadian researcher likens controversial MS treatment to faith healing

OTTAWA A member of an expert group advising the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) about the effectiveness of a controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis has likened it to faith healing.

Dr. Barry Rubin, medical director of the Toronto General Hospital's cardiac centre, and three American co-authors draw the parallel in an article entitled "The 'Liberation Procedure' for Multiple Sclerosis: Sacrificing Science at the Altar of Consumer Demand," in the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Rubin sits on the CIHR's Scientific Expert Working Group, a 23-member international panel created by CIHR in 2010 to monitor and analyse research into the link between MS and chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI), a term coined by Italian doctor Paolo Zamboni to describe blockages in the veins of the neck and spine.

Zamboni's so-called "liberation treatment" involves opening the blocked veins by inserting a balloon, a procedure known as venous angioplasty.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced last month a team of researchers has been selected to conduct a clinical trial into CCSVI in about 100 MS patients.

But the article by Rubin and his three co-authors says funding trials of a procedure "that has minimal basis in rational, empirical knowledge seems questionable." It cites two cases of Canadian MS patients who underwent venous angioplasty.

One died while the other suffered a serious stroke.

The article places Zamboni's therapy in the same category as "treatment of breast cancer with laser photodynamics, Laetrile for cancer and other unproven therapeutics found in the retail sphere. And, it asks, "When is healing 'faith healing?'"

Rubin's views prompted a swift response from Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan, who has pushed for research into the link between CCSVI and MS. In a letter to Alain Beaudet, CIHR's president, Duncan said Rubin "can no longer be seen to be an independent judge of the scientific literature.

"Members of the CCSVI community are concerned that a parallel process is being created one in which the government says it will undertake clinical trial, while a key player appears to work actively to prevent this," Duncan's letter says.

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Canadian researcher likens controversial MS treatment to faith healing