Multiple Sclerosis: five years after the CCSVI discovery of Dr. Zamboni [translation by Alessandro Rasman]

It's been almost five years since that incredible September 8, 2009 when, during a prestigious international conference in Bologna (Italy), was announced in the press (1) the CCSVI discovery of Dr. Paolo Zamboni, director of the Vascular Diseases Center, University of Ferrara, on the possible correlation between chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) and multiple sclerosis (MS), severely disabling disease that affects 63,000 Italians especially with onset between 20 and 40 years and for which, unfortunately, we don't know neither the causes nor definitive therapy and is valid for all despite the huge resources invested in research especially in the rich pharmaceutical sector. The announcement of the CCSVI discovery of Dr. Zamboni opened a new hope for patients and their families in a disease where little is known and where little are told by the neurologist who follows you (which in turn often doesn't know ...). A few days later it was discovered that in fact the study of Dr. Zamboni went on between Ferrara and Bologna for a few years (2), but had been ignored by much of the press and especially by the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Society (AISM), that should protect people with MS and especially support scientific research but instead has a major conflict of interest because of its relationship with the pharmaceutical companies who generously donate funding. Aism, pressed from patients, first issued a press release as soon as September 18, 2009 (3), with the obvious attempt to downplay the discovery of Dr. Zamboni.
In these five years, much water has passed under the bridge and we can summarize the current situation in the following points:
- Big preconceived hostility towards the discovery of Dr. Zamboni from the majority of neurologists, pharmaceutical companies and by the same Italian Multiple Sclerosis Society (AISM), have been basted even some studies that had the obvious purpose of demonstrating that CCSVI discovered by Dr. Zamboni doesn't exist or isn't correlated with multiple sclerosis (see the study Cosmo of Aism (4));
- Huge difficulties, some of which still remain, to take off the Italian multicenter study of Dr. Zamboni Brave Dreams (5), which should confirm whether or not the results of the first study published by Dr. Zamboni in 2009 and give a definitive answer about the usefulness of venoplasty in MS patients;
- Descent into the field of a number of doctors that due to the content of an Italian ministerial circular have begun to exploit economically the discovery of Dr. Zamboni starting to make costly venoplasties "continuous cycle" with little ethics, and often without anything to give to research (6);
- Greater understanding of the mechanisms of action of CCSVI and of the reasons why venoplasty at the moment only works in 50% of patients treated as indicated by the first study of Dr. Zamboni published in December 2009 (7).
Despite all the research on CCSVI is going ahead anyway.
Thanks Dr. Zamboni and Dr. Salvi !!!

Souces:
(1) http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2009/09/09/dalla-cura-dell-insufficienza-venosa-una-speranza.html http://salute24.ilsole24ore.com/articles/4896-sclerosi-multipla-una-nuova-malattia-e-la-chiave-per-terapia-innovativa http://ricerca.gelocal.it/lanuovaferrara/archivio/lanuovaferrara/2009/09/09/UC3PO_UC304.html http://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/ferrara/2009/09/10/229780-sclerosi_multipla_speranza.shtml
(2) http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2007/gennaio/20/Nelle_vene_chiave_per_scoprire_co_9_070120129.shtml http://ricerca.gelocal.it/lanuovaferrara/archivio/lanuovaferrara/2007/01/17/UC2PO_UC205.html http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2009/05/23/sclerosi-multipla-forse-una-nuova-cura.html
(3) http://www.aism.it/index.aspx?codpage=news_2009_09_ccsvi
(4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24014572
(5) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23034121
(6) http://youtu.be/rD-w-l-58Rk
(7) http://youtu.be/7loHcBuQdts