Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I really can't. They're my heroes. I think you should let them be heroes for everybody else. My CCSVI was treated with a balloon angioplasty, a procedure that's done every day of the week. No tests necessary. My left hand came back to me on the OR table. It was numb; I couldn't use it.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I would answer that in a different way. I think I have an ethical dilemma as a physician not to treat people with CCSVI. I think there is good anecdotal evidence to suggest that people with CCSVI do well with treatment. Again, as a vascular surgeon I do not treat MS; I treat CCSVI.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  We started doing them without being trained by Zamboni, and some people with MS had negative studies. We thought that not everybody with MS was going to have CCSVI. I don't know if everybody with MS has CCSVI or not, but when we restudied the patients we had initially done prior to our Zamboni training, they all came back with criteria that met Zamboni's diagnosis of CCSVI after we had been properly trained by Zamboni.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Thank you. Do you have any ethical dilemma in deciding to treat MS patients with CCSVI?

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  During your presentation, you told us that, in your opinion, the only thing left to do was to sub-categorize the CCSVI patients. Could you expand a little more on that? In your view, what needs to be done and how long could a surgery like that take? Finally, why is it important to sub-categorize the patients?

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  There are many things that can cause CCSVI, so to understand why this treatment might work for some people and not for others one needs to know what the problem is. In order to do that you have to get experience in imaging people.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  At the same time, you can treat people with significant disease now. If they have significant CCSVIs demonstrated on an MRV and on a duplex scan, then they should be treated. [Applause]

Multiple Sclerosis  With the research now going on in Canada and around the world, we are getting closer to finding better treatments for MS and hopefully a cure. Scientists are intrigued by the potential links between CCSVI and multiple sclerosis. CIHR welcomes and encourages funding applications from researchers wanting to study this new treatment. We know that good science does not happen overnight. Science demands a measured approach.

Multiple Sclerosis  I wonder what the minister's response is with respect to why would we not put a process in place to ensure that everyone who may have CCSVI, first has the opportunity to be diagnosed. If they are diagnosed with CCSVI, why not treat it? They should not be discriminated against having this treatment because they have MS. Why not allow everyone, first to be diagnosed and ensure that the doctors who are treating these patients filter the information into the research part of it.

Multiple Sclerosis  The MS societies, both in Canada and in the United States, have called the early findings surrounding CCSVI “exciting and intriguing” but have said “more research is required to firmly establish the link between blocked neck veins and MS symptoms”. On June 11, the MS Society released the following statement: These new studies are necessary because we don't yet know whether, or if so how, CCSVI contributes to MS disease activity.

Multiple Sclerosis  On their behalf, I would like to ask the minister how CIHR is mobilizing the research community around CCSVI and MS?

Multiple Sclerosis  The MS Society of Canada and the MS Society in the United States say the following: These new studies are necessary because we don’t yet know whether, or if so how, CCSVI contributes to MS disease activity. We will continue to support these types of research in Canada and we will bring in the international community to respond to this possible new procedure.

Multiple Sclerosis  Madam Chair, the minister herself has mentioned that what is occurring is very promising, but I want to ask whether it is not correct to treat MS and the CCSVI in different functions. Where it indicates there are restrictions in a vein, why should people not have the treatment, as opposed to linking this? If there are benefits for MS, that is perfect.

Multiple Sclerosis  Madam Chair, MS societies in Canada and the United States have called their early findings surrounding CCSVI exciting, but they have also said they want more research. We will continue to work with them in terms of providing support to see if this new method is effective or not.

Multiple Sclerosis  Poor venous flow can lead to major neurological problems. More than 1,000 people have now been imaged for CCSVI worldwide. It is clear that the majority of MS patients have vascular abnormalities. The angioplasty procedure shows that 80% to 97% of MS patients have vascular abnormalities and, in many cases, more than one major vessel is involved.