As many of you know, nearly every scientific advancement in history has met with some controversy. Some more than others. CCSVI is no exception. Despite overwhelming patient anecdotal evidence the procedure is consistently challenged in the mainstream medical community. To legitimize Dr. Zamboni’s hypothesis, several international studies are underway (they themselves subject to controversy as several of the researches have disclosed that they benefit financially from some of the largest drug companies).
So Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) can relate as much to how news is consumed as to warnings about things we purchase. National Public Radio is one news source that can be considered unbiased and objective. Our friend the wheelchair kamikaze is used to put a face on the CCSVI story and here it is about one doctors challenge regarding recent study results indicating that doppler ultrasound has not detected the condition considered to lead to CCSVI. Robert Fox, a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic, currently oversees one of the studies funded by an MS Society grant. He says part of the confusion comes from variations in how CCSVI is measured.
“That’s absolutely one of the potential problems in the previous studies: Are the techs who got negative results, did they just not know how to do the ultrasound in the way that Dr. Zamboni described doing the ultrasound? And that’s a very important issue,” Fox says.
At Arizona Doppler Specialists, we are trained in the specific procedure to look for CCSVI. What are your thoughts on the subject? Shouldn’t the methodology of these studies require those conducting them to have training specific to CCSVI? Shouldn’t any study be conducted by researchers who are not funded by any outside organization, including drug companies?
Listen to an audio of the story here or visit NPR at this link.
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