EDMONTON — he Alberta government has committed $1 million to study Pablo Zamboni's "liberation treatment" for people with multiple sclerosis.

The money will fund a three-year study that will test whether the procedure is safe by surveying Albertans who have MS and have had the treatment elsewhere. The results will determine whether the province will conduct clinical trials.

"This observational study is about obtaining more research to help fill the evidence void," Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said.

"If this particular observational study does yield the kind of information that we would be looking at, not only from a public good standpoint but from a medical point of view especially, then certainly we would look very seriously at putting into effect the clinical trial."

Roughly 12,000 Albertans have the disease, which affects the way nerve cells communicate and causes physical symptoms ranging form numbness, fatigue and chronic pain to loss of vision, difficulty speaking and inability to control bodily functions.

The government estimates about 30 Albertans have had the Zamboni treatment outside the country, while the MS Society of Canada estimates the number is closer to 100.

The treatment was developed by Italian Dr. Pablo Zamboni and involves opening blocked veins in the neck with balloon catheters similar to those used in coronary angioplasty.

The Alberta study was designed by researchers and neurologists at the University of Calgary, who will use an online survey to gather information from at least 500 people who have multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Tom Feasby, dean of the university's school of medicine, said the study is in response to people with MS who have lobbied heavily for access to the treatment in Canada.

"Some of them are voting with their feet," he said of the patients who have travelled to India, Costa Rica and Mexico for the treatment, which can cost as much as $20,000.

However, he said it is not yet clear whether the treatment is safe, which is a prerequisite for clinical trials.

MS Society of Canada spokesman Darrel Gregory said the organization supports the study.

"People with MS are anxious and have a sense of urgency for this, so I would expect that three years will seem like a long time," he said. "But we're not in a position to second-guess the researchers, and we have to take it on good faith that they are doing what needs to be done."

Advocate Warren Stefenyk, who has lobbied aggressively for access to the treatment in Canada, said the province is being "overly cautious."

" It appears to be a stalling tactic," he said. "There's plenty of research that has already proven that this procedure is safe and effective."

Five members of Stefenyk's family have been diagnosed with MS including his father, who died from the illness. His sister recently had the Zamboni treatment and no longer shows symptoms of the disease.

"People die from MS every day. That's the tragedy here. As we speak, there are thousands of people in this province who are very sick, very close to death, and who don't have four years to wait," he said.

"Certainly in those cases, we should do the procedure. What have those people got do lose?"

Jennifer Noriega had nothing to lose: A 39-year-old mother of two young boys, her MS progressed over 10 years to the point where she was using a walker, having trouble speaking and suffered chronic fatigue.

In August, she paid $20,000 for the procedure in Costa Rica. She called the government's announcement Thursday "a step in the right direction" but added: "I couldn't have waited -- I was just getting too bad."

Four months after the treatment, she isn't entirely cured but her fatigue is gone, her mind is back to normal and she is walking without assistance.

kkleiss@edmontonjournal.com