Regarding costs, I have conducted a financial analysis to compare the costs of medications for multiple sclerosis with what the costs would be for this procedure.
What we found was that if it basically halts the progression for even 20% of the people with MS, Canada would save millions of dollars, if that were the case. Now, that is a hypothesis, and it has to stop it. But people who have had the procedure--and I've talked to dozens of them--basically say that they have not progressed since they had the procedure. Some of them were from Stanford, and that was six to eight months ago. They haven't progressed at all.
For example, for me, every three weeks I deteriorate. If I could just stop it and still be able to stand in six months, that would be great.