Kirsty Duncan on Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

With respect to chronic cerebrospinal insufficiency (CCSVI), does the government plan to have: (a) Health Canada establish that no Canadian ought to be deprived of the imaging necessary for diagnosis, or deprived of the angioplasty indicated by a diagnosis of venous insufficiency in the drainage of the brain, only by reason that that person would also have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS); (b) the Minister of Health convene her provincial and territorial counterparts to a meeting for the purpose of ensuring that no impediment will be placed in the way of diagnosis of venous insufficiency or of treatment by angioplasty on the mere ground that the patient has been diagnosed with MS; (c) Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funds made available to assist in the creation of a registry by which it would be possible to collate data regarding the progress of MS patients who undergo venous angioplasty; (d) the funds released, as per the MS Society's research proposal, to allow for that research, with the help of the data collated in the registry referred to above, keeping in mind that such research should not be an impediment to patients obtaining diagnosis or the angioplasty to correct diagnosed venous insufficiency, but should proceed in parallel to any such treatment; (e) Health Canada or the CIHR investigate technology to study the vascular system in utero and, if so, (i) whether vascular or venous problems develop during this time period, (ii) what and where vascular or venous problems potentially occur, (iii) how identified problems might be treated; (f) Health Canada or the CIHR study whether pregnant women should be given vitamin D to understand the risk of children being born with, or developing, vascular problems and other conditions and, if so, determine what dosage is appropriate; (g) Health Canada or the CIHR study whether children and adolescents should be given vitamin D to reduce the risk of developing vein inflammation and venous hypertension and, if so, (i) what dosage is appropriate, (ii) what quantity is recommended for a child with a family history of CCSVI, vascular problems or MS, etc.; (h) Health Canada or the CIHR investigate whether vascular issues develop during childhood and, if so, identify methods to discover circulation problems at the earliest time possible; (i) Health Canada or CIHR study whether antioxidants, vitamin D and omega 3 reduce vein inflammation; (j) Health Canada or the CIHR determine the normal range of flow through veins, in particular the jugulars, and whether or not occluded jugulars can be treated to achieve normal flow; (k) Health Canada or the CIHR study how CCSVI potentially affects flow through the veins and possible permeability of the blood-brain barrier, and methods to reduce permeability, including mesenchymal stem cells and pharmacological agents; (l) Health Canada or the CIHR study the effects of chelators on iron uptake and release from the brain, and the potential use of iron chelators as therapeutic agents for the treatment of MS and perhaps other neurodegenerative disorders; (m) Health Canada or the CIHR investigate how the vascular system of someone with benign MS compares to that of someone with relapsing-remitting, primary progressive or secondary progressive MS; (n) Health Canada or the CIHR study whether a relationship exists between CCSVI and other neurological diseases, as well as between CCSVI and autoimmune disease; (o) funds made available to CIHR across the Institutes to bring together a conference of leading researchers in fields including CCSVI and the liberation procedure, vascular surgeons and neurologists; (p) research funds made available to design safe apparatuses to keep liberated veins open; and (q) a National Research Chair awarded in the diagnosis and treatment of venous abnormalities?