CCSVI -The biological plausability of the concept

An extract from an article published in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences
Multiple Sclerosis - A Vascular Etiology?

Bryce Weir A1
A1 Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Illinois, USA
Abstract:
From the earliest pathological studies the perivenular localization of the demyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS) has been observed. It has recently been suggested that obstructions to venous flow or inadequate venous valves in the great veins in the neck, thorax and abdomen can cause damaging back flow into the cerebral and spinal cord circulations. Paolo Zamboni and colleagues have demonstrated abnormal venous circulation in some multiple sclerosis patients using non-invasive sonography and invasive venography. Furthermore, they have obtained apparent clinical improvement or stabilization by endovascular ballooning of points of obstruction in the great veins in some, at least temporarily. If non-invasive observations by others validate their initial observations of a significantly increased prevalence of venous obstructions in MS then trials of angioplasty/stenting would be justified in selected cases in view of the biological plausibility of the concept.

http://cjns.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue%2C10%2C43%3Bjournal%2C1%2C76%3Blinkingpublicationresults%2C1%3A300307%2C1



Here is Dr. Weir's bio-
BRYCE WEIR was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on April 29, 1936. He grew up in Montreal. At McGill University attended the Faculty of Medicine, from which he was graduated in 1960. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta and The University of Chicago.

He practiced neurosurgery at the University of Alberta for 25 years, becoming Director of the Division of Neurosurgery and subsequently Chairman and Walter Stirling Anderson Professor of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief at the University of Alberta Hospitals. Dr. Weir was president of the Canadian Neurosurgical Society, the Canadian Congress of Neurological Sciences, the Canadian Stroke Society, and the Alberta Medical Association.

In July, 1992, he moved to the United States and was appointed the Maurice Goldblatt Professor in Surgery and Neurology and Chief of Neurosurgery at the University of Chicago. He assumed the Directorship of the Brain Research Institute the following year. Prior to retirement, he was Interim Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, and Vice-President for Medical Affairs at The University of Chicago, 2001-2002. He was elected to membership of the National Academy of Sciences in 1997.