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Risk Factors for CCSVI are Similar to Risk Factors for Developing MS, UB Study Shows Summary: A vascular condition called chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI), which has attracted global attention as possibly being correlated with MS has, for the first time, been studied for the presence of risk factors in subjects who do not have a neurological disease. A preliminary University at Buffalo study of 252 volunteers has found an association between CCSVI and as many as three characteristics widely viewed as possible or confirmed MS risk factors. They are: infectious mononucleosis, irritable bowel syndrome and smoking. The UB researchers...

Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation: Careful, well-designed studies needed for evaluating patients with multiple sclerosis who have narrowed neck, chest veins; 'much work needs to be done'FAIRFAX, Va.—Evaluating patients with multiple sclerosis who have narrowed jugular and azygos veins—and the value of widening those veins with angioplasty—warrants careful, well-designed research, noted members of a Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation's Research Consensus Panel. And, the multidisciplinary panel indicated that while specific parameters for a large-scale, pivotal multicenter trial are not now available, that type of study is the "mandatory goal" in exploring a condition called chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (or CCSVI)....

Early study of 231 patients details safety of using angioplasty to widen internal jugular and azygos veins; doctors hope results encourage more research to explore minimally invasive treatment options for those with multiple sclerosisCHICAGO, Ill. (March 28, 2011)—Understanding that angioplasty—a medical treatment used by interventional radiologists to widen the veins in the neck and chest to improve blood flow—is safe may encourage additional studies for its use as a treatment option for individuals with multiple sclerosis, say researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, Ill. "Angioplasty—the nonsurgical procedure of threading a thin tube into...