Follow-up ultrasounds to be available for Sask. MS patients who seek treatment outside Canada

Saskatchewan residents with multiple sclerosis who have travelled outside Canada for liberation therapy can soon be evaluated by sonographers using Doppler ultrasound at Radiology Associates of Regina (RAR).

Dr. Kunal Goyal, a radiologist with the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region and RAR and an assistant professor of clinical radiology at the University of Saskatchewan, believes RAR is the first site in the province to offer the service.

The Doppler ultrasound that will be offered at RAR aims to provide timely, safe and in-province service to patients who would otherwise have to travel outside Saskatchewan for followup.

Hundreds of Canadians started going outside the country for liberation treatment after Dr. Paolo Zambo-ni hypothesized in 2009 that MS is caused by a narrowing of veins in the neck - a condition he dubbed chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI).

Zamboni believes the constriction causes blood draining from the brain to back up, creating iron deposits and setting off brain inflammation. His treatment uses angioplasty, where a tiny balloon is threaded into the vein and inflated to open the narrowing.

RAR worked with the Ministry of Health to offer the Doppler ultrasound service to those who have had liberation therapy. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan approved three RAR radiologists to provide the follow-up service.

"We are not going to provide this to diagnose CCSVI, but what we're hoping to do is once these patients have had treatment is offer this service so we can either follow them up or more importantly, these procedures do have some complications risks. In case they were to develop complications, we can pick them up and appropriately manage those patients," Goyal said.

The Doppler ultrasound, which costs more than $100,000 will be available in about a month, but physicians must refer patients.

"I think it's a great thing we can do this for our provincial patients," Goyal said.

Patients who have had CCSVI treatment outside of Canada will pay $280 for the specialized ultrasound, the same amount that RAR will charge the provincial government to monitor people taking part in the Albany, N.Y., clinical trials.

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Follow-up ultrasounds to be available for Sask. MS patients who seek treatment outside Canada