Angioplasty Offers Symptom Relief for MS Patients

The study population included those who underwent angioplasty alone, and three who underwent angioplasty with a stent. All patients filled in a standard questionnaire that evaluated key QOL components, including changes in physical abilities, health perception, energy/fatigue, sexual function, emotional well-being, cognition, and pain.

The results showed significant physical improvements in 75% of those with relapsing remitting and primary progressive forms of MS. Additionally, mental health scores improved in more than 70% of the individuals studied. People with secondary progressive MS also showed statistically significant improvements in both physical and mental health scores at a rate of 59% and 50%, respectively. In addition, the researchers found a trend that patients undergoing angioplasty more than 10 years after diagnosis did not respond as well as those with a more recent diagnosis. The study was presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 37th annual scientific meeting, held during March 2012 in San Francisco (CA, USA).

“Traditional theories surrounding treatment for multiple sclerosis in large part focus on autoimmune causes for brain pathology and neurologic symptoms. Based on this, treatment has been predominantly medications by mouth or injection,” said lead author and study presenter interventional radiologist Kenneth Mandato, MD. “We have been using angioplasty to open jugular and azygos veins in the neck and chest respectively to improve blood flow in people with MS. On follow-up, we have seen many of these individuals report significant symptom relief.”

MS is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms resulting from the inability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other effectively. Disease onset usually occurs in young adults, and it is more common in women. The name multiple sclerosis refers to scleroses (scars), particularly in the white matter of the brain and spinal cord, which is mainly composed of myelin.

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