Government decision to fund clinic trials 'a step in the right direction'

By: Jenny Jelen - Sudbury Northern Life Staff

Della Gauthier was faced with a tough decision last July — she could either live in a wheelchair or travel out of the country to receive treatment for secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS).

“I was really having trouble walking,” she said. “My walker wasn't helping.”

It didn't take the Capreol resident long to pack her bags and head for Costa Rica. Gauthier spent 13 days and just under $17,000 abroad. Upon returning, Gauthier was able to walk without a cane.

“I didn't get everything back that I wanted,” she said, but enough progress was made that she said she'd do it again.

Unfortunately, she will have to. Last October, she hit a deer while driving and suffered whiplash as a result. The neck injury had an adverse effect on the chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) treatment she received.

However, another trip to Costa Rica might not be necessary. In the future, people with MS may not have to travel so far to receive the care they need.

On June 29, Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaz announced the federal government will fund clinical trials of CCSVI, also known as liberation therapy.

Liberation therapy, developed by Italian researcher Dr. Paolo Zamboni in 2009, is a procedure in which MS patients with blockages in their veins are treated using balloon angioplasty. Many MS patients report that after receiving the procedure, their symptoms have abated or even halted altogether.

The procedure is controversial, with many health care professionals questioning its validity, and Zamboni himself saying more clinical trials need to be conducted.

Laurel Ireland, chair of the Sudbury chapter of the the MS Society of Canada, said “this is extremely exciting” for those with MS.

“Sudbury is a hot-spot (for MS),” she added. There are more than 300 members of the local MS chapter, and likely two to three times more people who haven't reached out to the group, Ireland said.

When people with MS first heard about liberation therapy, Ireland said “it was the first time (they) had hope.”

She said she's glad the federal government has decided to fund the trials. Gauthier is, too, although she said she believes it is only one small step in the right direction.

Having received the treatment and knowing firsthand what it's like, she said it would make more sense to simply offer it here in Canada, without going through the lengthy trial procedure.

“(Some people with MS) don't have two years to wait,” she said.

- Posted by Laurel Myers

http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2011/07/06-multiple-sclerosis-sudbury-treatment.aspx