CCSVI question

[Friendlily]

How can doctors deny treating MS patients (or any other patients for that matter) with CCSVI angioplasty surgery if they have blockage? because if their jugular veins are blocked why would doctors not unblock it?and how do they justify not doing that?

[SecureACure4MS]

To answer your question, many doctors will not perform the "liberation treatment" because it is unethical to charge a patient for a experimental procedure. There is no safety protocol, the research is in its infancy and not every pt who hass MS does not have to have the disorder dubbed CCSVI.
Insurance companies are being bill fraudently for this tx! There is no cpt code to justify having angioplasty for the treatment of MS. Therefore, they (Doctors) are billing for tx such a rountine angioplasty and omitting the real reason for the procedure.

*** Wheelchair Kamikaze has openly stated 1- that are NOT even sure he has MS. 2- could not have the liberation tx due to his atypical anatomy. ***

[essdipity]

Hi. I suggest you take a look at WheelchairKamikaze's most recent blog entry. It contains a most interesting video featuring a doctor in Albany, who discusses in great detail the ins and outs of CCSVI. There is no bias towards or against this procedure.

I found it most interesting, and I hope you will too.

ess

[Friendlily]

Thanks for the comments and input :) I am in limbo-land right now between having a diagnoses of MS so i am not considering getting it done unless im officially diagnosed and they do see that it is blocked. But if I did and it was blocked i would camp outside a doctors office to get it done, regardless of the risks.
I had just been reading stories of doctors refusing to do it and it sounded ridiculous to me that regardless if a patient with MS gets the surgery (and gets better or doesnt) or someone without MS gets the surgery, they should not deny a person with MS to have it just because theres not scientific proof that it "cures" MS, regardless of whether that person believes it will or not. It sounds to me like a lot of money would be lost in the pharmecuticals if the surgery helps in some way, so it would make sense that they would try to stop it, but if they were trying to i was just wondering how they could justify not unblocking a blocked vein whether it helps with a persons MS or not. A blocked vein/artery should get unblocked MS or not...but anyways sorry for the rambling :)

[Lulu54]

Friendlily,
Juggler veins are routinely cleared all the time - it is done by interventional radiologists and is a fairly safe procedure.  If you jugulars are blocked and causing a problem, there is no reason why they would not be cleared.

If you are talking about getting a doctor to do the CCSVI "liberation" procedure, that is a different question.  The CCSVI idea is in rigorous testing right now, but there is no hard scientific proof that it helps with MS.  Even Dr. Zamboni, the originator of this procedure, has said that PwMS should wait to have this done until more rigorous testing is completed.

If you want to pay $$$$ you can have the procedure done in a number of different places around the world, including Bulgaria, Costa Rica and China.  You can also find places here in the US who are doing the procedure.

How this all plays out with insurance and having the procedure covered, I really can't answer.

Are you looking to have this procedure done?

[Karen99]

Hmm.  Interesting question.  My guess is that blocked jugular veins are not recognized as a problem???

Your question, when asked like you asked it........... does make one mull that one around.

The slowing or stoppage of any venous flow would certainly cause some sort of problem.