Saskatchewan MS sufferer awaits spot in 'liberation treatment' study

With a mix of anticipation and fear, Andrew Dahlen will soon learn if he will be Saskatchewans first patient to participate in a clinical trial for a controversial multiple sclerosis treatment.

Dahlen who was diagnosed with MS at the age of 22 will travel to Albany, New York on Monday for the final stage of eligibility screening for the clinical trial Chronic Cerebro-Spinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI).

Its about 70 per cent exciting, 30 per cent terrified. More excited than terrified, said Dahlen, now 28 years old, during a news conference Thursday in Saskatoon.

Saskatchewan Health Minister Dustin Duncan called Dahlens trip to New York a groundbreaking day for our province and science, and thanked Dahlen for his willingness to take part in the study.

Again, there still are some questions and thats why we want to be a part of trying to find answers to some for those questions, whether this is an effective treatment or not, said Duncan at the news conference.

Dahlen will spend several days at the Albany Medical Centre where a final assessment will determine whether he will be accepted into the trial.

CCSVI is a controversial MS treatment first hypothesized by Dr. Paolo Zamboni.

Zamboni has theorized that MS is not a neurodegenerative disease, as has been thought, but a disease resulting from collapsed veins in the neck and upper chest. Blockages in the veins of MS patients prevent blood from draining properly from the brain, and the pooled iron-rich blood damages brain tissues, Zamboni suggests.

While clinicians in Canada do not perform the unproven procedure, many MS patients have travelled abroad for the treatment. Enormous pressure from supporters of the procedure has been placed on the federal and provincial governments, both to fund clinical trials and to cover the treatment.

In June, a study commissioned by the government of Newfoundland and Labrador found patients who underwent the so-called liberation treatment experienced no measurable benefit from the procedure.

View original post here:
Saskatchewan MS sufferer awaits spot in 'liberation treatment' study