Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I believe everybody with MS should be imaged. The cost of doing the procedure is small. The problem, however, is the number of people who are adequately trained to do the duplex imaging of patients with CCSVI is small. There are currently three technicians trained in Canada

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Dr. McDonald, who will make the decision whether or not to image for CCSVI in Canada? What criteria have to be met? What timeline are we looking at? What is stopping you from performing this procedure today?

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee   can't do it. For instance, in Quebec, the college said they didn't think we should be imaging for CCSVI in patients. Why, I don't know. Why the decision was made, I don't know, but I believe that decision came down roughly a week ago.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee   are asking, what my colleagues are asking, is that we take MS out of the equation. If you have a vein problem in your liver, in your leg, we image and we treat it. Since there was discussion about the science, Dr. McDonald, I'm wondering if you can talk to us about the science of CCSVI

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee   at a therapeutic process, one has to have some sort of justification. Sometimes the justification can come from clinical observation and sometimes it can come from experimental observation on animal and tissue culture models. For instance, we all know—and this has some analogies to CCSVI

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee   this very difficult disease. We have a doctor in Barrie, Sandy McDonald, who is one of the top vascular surgeons, who has been working directly on the CCSVI possibility. I know he's very excited about the possibilities there as well. To follow up on a point that Megan Leslie mentioned

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Absolutely. Ms. Radley is correct that there has not been a vascular surgeon on our medical advisory committee. The recommendations for funding of research applications come through panels that are assembled for various competitions. In the context of the CCSVI competition

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  To look at the requests from both the American and Canadian research competitions in MS. Sorry, it's CCSVI.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Thank you, Mr. Malo. That is a very important question. The funding is for research on CCSVI, obviously in relation to multiple sclerosis. The reason why are making this request is because this is urgent. Urgent action is required. The Quebec College of Physicians is one

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee   of folks coming together on the Hill. There is certainly a grassroots campaign happening about CCSVI, but is there a coming together as one group? Is there an organization forming that can be a conduit for us in talking about these issues, or is it still mostly individuals coming

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee   of yours who are physicians and researchers, they will tell you the evidence available for CCSVI, including the protocols for imaging, is in the early stages. That is why a number of medical associations, provincial bodies, and the Alberta Health Services Board have made the decision

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee   come out from the expert panel representing 47 countries, which recognizes venous malformations and how to diagnose and treat them? That includes CCSVI.