Sometimes I Hate The Internet

I hate to get excited, or even hopeful, about news that promises cures for diseases that my friends have. MS is a terrible affliction that affects millions; but in a recent article there apparently is a possible treatment for this disease. This is based on the research by an Italian doctor whose wife was suffering from MS. I really wish this true.

An Italian doctor has been getting dramatic results with a new type of treatment for Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, which affects up to 2.5 million people worldwide. In an initial study, Dr. Paolo Zamboni took 65 patients with relapsing-remitting MS, performed a simple operation to unblock restricted bloodflow out of the brain – and two years after the surgery, 73% of the patients had no symptoms. Dr. Zamboni’s thinking could turn the current understanding of MS on its head, and offer many sufferers a complete cure.

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, has long been regarded as a life sentence of debilitating nerve degeneration. More common in females, the disease affects an estimated 2.5 million people around the world, causing physical and mental disabilities that can gradually destroy a patient’s quality of life.

It’s generally accepted that there’s no cure for MS, only treatments that mitigate the symptoms – but a new way of looking at the disease has opened the door to a simple treatment that is causing radical improvements in a small sample of sufferers.

Italian Dr. Paolo Zamboni has put forward the idea that many types of MS are actually caused by a blockage of the pathways that remove excess iron from the brain – and by simply clearing out a couple of major veins to reopen the blood flow, the root cause of the disease can be eliminated.

And here's the reason why I hate to get optimistic about findings promising a simple miracle cure. A 2013 Canadian medical study disproved Zamboni's thesis. Really; with a name like Zamboni ya gotta figure something is screwy.

The study was solid and well-balanced, Dr. Paul Friedemann of the neurology department at Charité University in Berlin and Dr. Mike Wattjes of MS Center Amsterdam said in a journal commentary accompanying the research.

The study "sounds a death knell" for the disease hypothesis of CCSVI, the pair said. It is "now absolutely clear that no reason exists to allocate any further resources to chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency research, be they financial or intellectual."

The Lancet study, which cost about $450,000, was funded by the MS Society of Canada, Saskatoon City Hospital Foundation, Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation, Vancouver Coastal Health Foundation and Woldridge Foundation.

Meanwhile, even though this study has disproved the theory, Traboulsee will continue to conduct a blinded, randomized control trial of the treatment on 100 people in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal and Quebec City.