Venöse Multiple Sklerose Hypothese | CCSVI

CTV News 09.04.10: MS vein theory has roots in rejected research (1:59)
Demand for a controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis is building in Canada. With prospective patients waiting for the treatment to go through testing, revelations have emerged that a similar therapy could have been tested years ago.

Austria's Dr. Franz Schelling was among those who studied the link. For 30 years, the now-retired doctor has been on a frustrating mission to get someone to study his findings. He theorized that poor blood flow from their brains of MS patients might be caused by damaged veins, which then triggers or contributes to the symptoms that mark MS.

Dr. Schelling worked as a family doctor trained in radiology and neurology and spent much of his career treating patients with MS. He became convinced it was not just a disease of the immune system.

He collected research that pointed to damage in the brains in those with MS. He also analyzed X-rays of MS patients and found odd anomalies in the neck and skulls of patients compared to healthy people.

But Schelling's requests for more study were repeatedly rejected by MS specialists who insisted what has long been promoted: the disease is caused by immune problems, not the veins.

"It really cracked me down, because I had patients that… patients died of MS," he told CTV News from his home in Dornbirn, Austria.

Schelling says he went to Vienna, New York, London and points in between, asking doctors and researchers to investigate the vein-MS link. But no one was interested.

Now, the long-proposed theory is being explored at high speed. Scientists from Europe, Canada and elsewhere are in Italy to learn about Dr. Zamboni's breakthrough research, as well as learn from his team how to test for the vein problems that Zamboni has dubbed CCSVI, or chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency.

Hypothese of Dr. Schelling
Damaging venous reflux into the skull or spine: relevance to multiple sclerosis. Med Hypotheses. 1986 Oct;21(2):141-8. [schelling86]