Posted By: Stuart Schlossman -RRMS
By: Jane Armstrong
Vancouver — From Wednesday’s Globe and MailPublished on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 9:17PM ESTLast updated on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009 5:30AM EST
The University of British Columbia has announced plans to begin patient trials to test a potentially groundbreaking method of diagnosing and treating multiple sclerosis, a disease that afflicts up to 75,000 Canadians.
Researchers have proposed launching a study involving 100 patients to test a theory that MS is a vascular disease that can be treated with surgery. It’s the first research proposal in Canada to suggest evaluating the findings of an Italian doctor whose early studies indicate that multiple sclerosis might be caused by vein blockages that lead to a buildup of iron in the brain.