The creation of a provincial advisory panel to support patients who have travelled abroad for a controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis is a step in the right direction, according to one Stratford woman who has undergone the procedure.

The provincial government announced last week it would establish an expert advisory group to provide advice on followup care and treatment for people with MS who return to Ontario after undergoing the Chronic Cerebro-Spinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI) procedure outside Canada.

The panel will develop best-practice guidelines on treatment for those patients and will provide those recommendations to the government.

"It's a start," said Mary Helen Mosterman, who travelled to India last summer for the CCSVI procedure, otherwise known as the Liberation treatment.

Similar to an angioplasty, it involves inflating a balloon inside a vein in the patient's neck to help restore blood flow. An Italian doctor believes the blocked neck veins may be linked to MS.

But because the procedure is considered experimental and unproven, it is not covered by OHIP, forcing patients here to travel outside of the country to receive it, at their own expense.

While Mosterman is still frustrated by that, she said any kind of post-procedure support here in Ontario is welcome.

"When I came home, I thought Now what?'" said Mosterman. "What are other people doing?"

She recently attended a "helpful" followup meeting with others who received the Liberation treatment in India to compare notes, and share information about their own therapies and what's working for them.

The provincial panel would help inform Ontario physicians about the unique needs some patients have after undergoing the procedure outside the country, and would provide recommendations for followup care.

"It would be nice to have the backing of the doctors," said Mosterman.

Shortly after receiving the treatment in India last August, she said she experienced a noticeable improvement in her symptoms, and some relief from a debilitating disease she's struggled with for nearly 20 years.

While that initial "peak" has subsided somewhat since then, she still feels better and more comfortable than she did before the surgery.

"But I still have MS," she said simply.

And like others with MS who have undergone the Liberation treatment, she feels that the responsibility for managing her condition still rests largely with her.

"It's still in our hands," she said. "Our health is in our own hands."

The advisory group is expected to report back to the province with its best-practice guidelines by October.

mbeitz@bowesnet.com

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