From "sou" on TIMS---who is attending the Bologna ISNVD Conference, comes a report on a new technique to diagnose CCSVI that IS NOT operator dependent:  Plethysmography tests blood flow, and Dr. Zamboni invents a way to use a collar that measures blood flow.  Brilliant!!

from sou---

"There was a simply fantastic idea, again from Dr Zamboni: 

Plethysmography!!! 

The patient wears a collar, which measures the volume of the fluids in the neck. At first, he is upright, sitting in a chair. When the volume stabilizes, the chair is aggressively tilted, bringing the patient in supine position. The volumes keep getting continuously measured and this postural change increases the volume in the neck. Again, the patient is aggresively tilted to the sitting upright position and what a miracle! MS patient's volume take a looooooong time to decrease again! Normal subject's fluid volume decreases almost instantly... 

This completely eliminates the operator's special training dependency! Just press a button and you have answered whether CCSVI is present or not. Then use the doppler to see what is going on. Brilliant????

The inadequate blood outflow raises the (cerebral spinal fluid) pressure, until it reaches to the point that it is enough to move the blocked blood through the "Starling resistor" and the blockage. This pressure is passed to the CSF, which presses the CNS and, all of a sudden, the pressure is decreased. And this is going on FOR LIFE! "

Dr. Zamboni has tested 50 normals and 50 with MS and presented his results.  Guess what?  All the normals had normal blood flow, and all the people with MS had restricted flow.

The way it works is that in CCSVI, there is a blockage which keeps blood from traveling back to the heart.  In normal people, when they are tilted upright, the blood goes back to the heart, and flow is lessened to balance out the upright position.  In people with MS/CCSVI, it takes a long time for the blood to get back to the heart, since there is a blockage restricting flow.  With this collar, it is possible to detect CCSVI, and it is NOT dependent on an operator to find it.  The collar takes the reading, VOILA!  You have a diagnosis, and can now see a vascular expert to get angioplasty.  No more neurologists telling you that can't "find" CCSVI with a doppler ultrasound machine.  The collar tells the truth.

Here's some further discussion on this from the This Is MS forum---thanks to "Cece" for getting such terrific pics and info together this afternoon.

http://www.thisisms.com/ftopicp-157215.html#157215

Go, Dr. Zamboni!!!  Can't wait to see the new blood flow collar!  Thanks to Sou!

Joan

http://www.facebook.com/notes/ccsvi-in-multiple-sclerosis/plethysmographya-new-technique-from-dr-zamboni-to-diagnose-ccsvi/10150119479862211