IMPORTANT CORRECTION TO 1/31/11 NPR "Morning Edition" interview re: safety of CCSVI angioplasty treatment!

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL HEAR DR. ZIVADINOV SPEAKING ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT HE FEELS THE RESEARCH IS TO UNDERSTAND THE USEFULNESS OF CCSVI TREATMENT AND ABOUT HIS CONCERN FOR PEOPLE HAVING TO GO FAR FROM HOMES FOR TREATMENT FOR WHICH THEY ARE PAYING. 

He does NOT say, as you will hear the reporter state before he speaks, that angioplasty treatment is unsafe or that research is impeded by patients going far from home for treatment. 

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/31/133247319/doctor-challenges-cause-of-ms-and-treatment

We hope you will consider supporting this important CCSVI Treatment Research.  At the end of the letter you will find a with a link to University at Buffalo's secure gift page.

Thank you for your interest in BNAC's research.

 Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center

Jacobs Neurological Institute

University at Buffalo Dept. of Neurology

100 High Street ? Buffalo, NY 14203

Dear Friends,

Over the past two years our research team has been studying this, possibly paradigm-shifting and certainly controversial, theory. We want to know:

• Are constricted veins the cause, consequence, or important contributing factors of multiple sclerosis (MS)?


• Are people with CCSVI more susceptible to developing MS?


• Is there is a relationship between blocked veins and MS progression?


• If CCSVI is present, is treatment needed?


• Or, is CCSVI just another MS theory that will fizzle under the careful scrutiny of scientific research, like so many others have over the years?



• We believe that BNAC is uniquely qualified to find these answers for two reasons. First, we have an experienced team of researchers who have been working together for several years studying this theory. Second, they have used the most advanced technology to create one of the world’s largest and most complete data bank of venous anomalies as they relate to MS. It contains clinical, MRI, genetic, ultrasound and environmental information from over 1,000 people who have participated in our CCSVI studies.

  
  

Beyond our basic CCSVI research, a few months ago we joined University at Buffalo neurosurgeons to develop the first IRB approved CCSVI Treatment Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial. In June, ten people with MS who met two or more criteria underwent angioplasty treatments as part of Phase 1 of our Treatment Study. This phase tested the safety of the balloon angioplasty treatment procedure. We are now enrolling 20 more participants in Phase 2 of the study, to begin later this year. This phase will be blinded to test the placebo effect and, like the initial ten subjects, these subjects will be evaluated periodically over six months. Our costs for this trial alone are over $700,000.

As you may know, this research has generated great passion among all sectors of the MS community. Unlike any other MS research, securing funding for this research will depend mostly on gifts from people like you. I am writing to you today because we need your support for this CCSVI Treatment research. Please help us meet the $150,000 challenge offered by the Direct-MS Foundation.

Every dollar contributed by March 31, 2010 will be matched 1:1 by Direct-MS. Can you please help?

Sincerely yours,

Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD

Director

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