Society of Interventional Radiology, 37th Annual Meeting, San Francisco

Dr. Ferral’s team reported symptomatic improvement in 55% of the individuals treated, and 38% reported no improvement. Seven percent of patients did not comply with their follow-up visits and were considered to be lost to follow-up. Close to 60% of those with relapsing-remitting MS reported improvement in symptoms, the highest of all the subgroups in this study.

“These important results revealed that for people with MS who experience debilitating symptoms, minimally invasive interventional radiology treatments can be an effective, palliative treatment that also may improve their quality of life,” said Dr. Ferral. “As interventional radiologists, our biggest challenge is to bring to the attention of other specialists, especially those physicians specialized in MS, the evidence that venous lesions, often classified CCSVI, may be a true entity that deserves further attention and serious research,” he explained.

In 2011, members of a Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation’s Research Consensus Panel noted that evaluating patients with MS who have narrowed jugular and azygos veins—and examining the value of widening those veins with angioplasty—warranted careful, well-designed research. The multidisciplinary panel indicated that the “mandatory goal” should be conducting large-scale, pivotal, multicenter trials to explore CCSVI.