Details are now coming to light about the death of an Ontario multiple sclerosis patient who travelled to Costa Rica for a form of the
"liberation therapy."

CTV's medical specialist Avis Favaro, who was the first to report on the controversial treatment and the theory behind it, reported on the
Niagara Falls, Ont. man's death last week. At the time, the man's family was not yet ready to talk.

But it is now known that the man's name was Mahir Mostic. The 35-year-old had travelled to the Clinica Biblica hospital in San Jose,
Costa Rica in June, seeking the controversial treatment. After his MS

symptoms worsened, he returned to Costa Rica where he died, on Oct. 19.

The man's death underscores the confusion surrounding the controversial procedure, says an avowed advocate of the procedure.

Barrie Ont.-based vascular surgeon Dr. Sandy McDonald believes in the potential of "liberation therapy," but says the procedure Mostic
underwent was very different from the one devised by Italian researcher

Dr. Paolo Zamboni.

Based on a hypothesis that MS is a vascular disease caused by blocked or twisted veins in the chest and neck -- a condition he calls CCSVI
-- Zamboni's technique uses balloon angioplasty to widen neck veins and

increase blood flow from the brain.

After consulting with the doctor who did Mostic's procedure, Dr. McDonald said it was "nowhere near what Dr. Zamboni describes" because
doctors inserted into one of the man's veins a stent, which is a small

metal tube designed to keep a blocked vein open

"A procedure was done on one day, and the next day they had a sub-optimal result, so they then stented it," McDonald told CTV's Canada
AM.

After that appeared to restore Mostic's bloodflow, he was sent back to Canada. But when his symptoms worsened and an ultrasound showed his
stent was 80 per cent blocked with a blood clot, he returned to Clinica

Biblica in October. A clot-busting drug was injected into the stent, but

Mostic died the next day.

Zamboni published his findings in 2009, flying in the face of conventional belief that MS is an autoimmune disorder and giving hope to
those who have been told there is no cure. The procedure has not been

approved in Canada, leaving people seeking relief both desperate and

confused.

"The problem with all of this is that there has not been a good randomized, controlled, double-blinded study that says it's either
effective or ineffective. Nor has there been a trial done that assesses

what the risks are or aren't," McDonald explained.

Based on advice from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and with the support of the MS Society of Canada, Ottawa has announced that
it will not fund further clinical trials beyond the ones that are

already underway.

Researchers in Canada and the U.S. are nevertheless studying Zamboni's hypothesis -- called chronic cerebro-spinal venous
insufficiency, or CCSVI. And Saskatchewan has declared its intention to

bankroll clinical trials when researchers are ready.

Between 55,000 and 75,000 Canadians have MS, ranking Canada among the most affected in the world.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20101119/ms-liberation-treatment-cost-rica-death-reaction