MS Trust comments on new data on CCSVI
12 February 2010
Preliminary results from a study of CCSVI report an association with people with MS.
CCSVI (chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency) is a condition in which blockages to blood vessels affect blood draining from the brain. Professor Paolo Zamboni first suggested there might be a condition in which blockages to blood vessels affect blood draining from the brain. He termed this 'CCSVI' (chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency), and theorises that this causes damage to the myelin sheath around nerves, leading to MS symptoms.
Results from a study at the University of Buffalo were publicised in a press release on 10 February. The study was looking at prevalence of CCSVI, not at treatment for the condition. The first phase of this study scanned 500 people including 280 people with MS. It found that the level of CCSVI amongst people with MS was 56.4% but also 22.4% in healthy controls. Prof Zamboni's study had reported more than 90% in people with multiple sclerosis but no cases in people without MS. A further phase involving more people is planned and the full results from the first phase will be reported at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in April.
Prof Neil Scolding, Burden Professor of Clinical Neurosciences, Bristol and a trustee of the MS Trust, said "Most MS experts take the view that blocked veins are not the cause of MS. The tissue changes seen under a microscope in MS do not suggest diseased veins, and the effects of immune treatments would also be difficult to explain on this basis.
"Nonetheless it is quite right that further scientific testing is done to pursue these claims carefully. The current press release, suggesting that the changes originally suggested to occur in 90% or more of MS patients were here seen in around 50% (or every other patient), and may also be seen in up to a quarter of healthy non-MS individuals, help shed further light on this area, and I look forward to more definitive peer-reviewed results."
Pam Macfarlane, Chief Executive of the MS Trust, said, "This is one of a number of interesting areas of research in MS. The Buffalo results raise a number of questions about the association between CCVSI and MS and we look forward to the publication of the full results. In the meantime we would urge people to be beware of commercial organisations offering this kind of treatment, we don't want to see a repeat of the stem cell exploitation."
Story updated with comments by Prof Scolding
