A clinic has been operating in Lower Silesia for several months, where an international team of specialists conducts research on innovative therapies for patients with multiple sclerosis. The results of our activities so far clearly show that it is possible to fight the symptoms of the disease.
Since December last year, help has been provided to several dozen patients.
Clinics that perform procedures on the venous system (CCSVI) in patients with multiple sclerosis operate all over the world. Unfortunately, the absolute majority of them focus only on the jugular veins, which are only a small part of the venous system, which means that patients do not always feel better, and opinions on the method itself are divided.
A big breakthrough in this matter are the principles of operation of the most modern clinic in the world, which was opened more than six months ago in Wrocław. the subject of CCSVI. In this case, the activities are carried out as part of a scientific research. The approach to the patient is comprehensive, and the diagnosis covers a very wide range of activities. It all starts with high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging, which allows you to build a 3D model of the patient’s venous system. The most modern equipment, however, is half the battle. The most important are radiologists performing the examination who, in order to correctly assess deformities in the venous system, work according to the specially developed protocol of Dr. Schelling from Austria, which was awarded the INSVD gold medal, the highest award for pioneering research and teaching in the field of the relationship between chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency and MS . This protocol is an extension of the protocol of prof. Haacke from Canada, a precursor in setting the standards for magnetic resonance imaging of the venous system.
The procedure itself is carried out completely differently than in other places of this type in the world. Until now, the standard was the intravenous administration of contrast, after which it was observed for several dozen seconds whether the blood was draining properly through the jugular veins. Let us repeat again – several dozen seconds, but the entire procedure under local anesthesia usually lasted about 20 minutes.
In Wrocław, the operation lasts several hours and is performed under full anesthesia. After the patient is put to sleep, the outflow of blood from the brain is checked using contrast. Each vein is then viewed from the inside using a special intravascular ultrasound machine (IVUS). Pressure maps in the venous system are also made, which greatly increases the accuracy and reliability of the obtained results.
Once neurosurgeons together with radiologists determine the places of deformation or disturbances in blood outflow, the unfortunate place is widened so as to restore proper blood circulation. As a result of several hours of surgery, deformations in the entire venous system are removed.
The scale of the project’s innovation is so large that the treatments are carried out as part of a scientific project approved by the bioethics committee. The project is not limited only to the issue of venous outflow disorders, but is much broader in scope and also includes research into the metabolism of affected areas and immunology in MS. Thanks to this, over time, after the publication of research results, such procedures may become a recognized method in the treatment of MS.
For many patients with MS, the project carried out in Wrocław finally brings hope, because so far no treatment methods have been able to effectively reverse the progression of the disease, but only slow down its course. Worse still, many patients had to abandon drug therapies due to numerous side effects.
However, what is amazing, according to patients, their condition begins to improve after a few hours after the procedure. Patients feel a significant improvement in walking, various pains disappear, especially back pain which makes it difficult to move. The balance is also greatly improved. One of the patients, who had great speech difficulties, began to speak in an understandable manner within hours of the procedure. This is inexplicable from the point of view of the current state of the art of academic medicine. However, in order to draw far-reaching conclusions, it is necessary to carry out not dozens but hundreds of similar operations and carefully analyze the statistical data.
The first procedures in Wrocław were carried out in December 2017. So far, despite the limited possibilities (renovation of part of the building), the clinic has already carried out several dozen procedures. As the founder of the clinic, Cezary Głuch, emphasizes, there were only three cases in which it was impossible to take action. – The first was about a patient who was not at all sick with multiple sclerosis, she was simply misdiagnosed. In two cases, the anatomical structure of the patient’s skull did not allow for an effective intervention. Improvement in health was observed in the remaining patients. I think that over time we will be able to develop a protocol that will allow us to identify which patients we can help and how to approach specific problems. The deformation in the intracranial venous sinus is something different, and the deformation in the remaining venous vessels is different, one should also distinguish between normal developmental differences and obvious abnormalities. Today, however, everything is thrown into one bag called CCSVI, and what is worse, the absolute majority of doctors associate it only with the procedure of clearing the jugular veins of scientifically proven effectiveness. If there are no studies confirming effectiveness for something, then such a method does not exist in the world of conventional medicine. Thanks to the support of fantastic doctors, we are going to change that.
As long as the effectiveness of such methods is not formally confirmed and recognized, they will not be refinanced from public funds. This is the biggest problem for the development of this type of therapeutic techniques – despite the fact that such treatments restore proper blood circulation and often, in the opinion of patients, reduce numerous symptoms of the disease, conducting research in this area is expensive, and finding a source of financing is very difficult. So far, many treatments have been financed by the founder of the clinic from his own funds and the Foundation established for this purpose, but at the moment the number of waiting people exceeds 100. People who are ill under 10 have the best chance of being included in the pro bono project. For them, the expected effects may have the greatest impact on the further quality of life. At the same time, the qualification takes into account the patient’s financial and family situation. – A thirty-year-old single-parent woman who has been sick for two years, who has been ill for two years, has a much greater chance of free inclusion in the program run by the clinic than a thriving, single-year 40-year-old who has been ill for two decades – said Cezary Głuch – the clinic’s founder.
In addition to the procedures financed by the owner of the clinic from own funds and from funds obtained from sponsors by the Foundation, patients are also included in the project on a commercial basis. It is not a cheap procedure. Ultimately, we are talking about a complex neurosurgical operation performed under full anesthesia and lasting from 3 to 6 hours. More information about the clinic is available at www.ccsvi-clinic.com. You can also find there reports of some patients and recordings showing the condition before and after the procedure.
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