

Researcher's labour of love leads to MS breakthrough  - benzim
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/researchers-labour-of-love-leads-to-breakthrough-in-treating-ms/article1372414/

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petercooper
MS being multiple sclerosis. I went through thinking it was something to do
with Microsoft.. so if you're reading here first, don't make that mistake :-)

~~~
GiraffeNecktie
That's what I thought at first. Then I saw the word "breakthrough" and I knew
it wasn't Microsoft.

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asnyder
_The U.S. society goes further, discouraging patients from getting tested or
seeking surgical treatment. Rather, it continues to promote drug treatments
used to alleviate symptoms..._

Statements like this make me wonder how much influence the drug industry had
in this decision. Clearly it's not in their best interest for MS sufferers to
get surgery and be done with it. I'm sure they rather MS sufferers take a Rx
for the rest of their life.

~~~
streety
"The initial studies done in Italy were small but the outcomes were dramatic.
In a group of 65 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (the most common form)
who underwent surgery, the number of active lesions in the brain fell sharply,
to 12 per cent from 50 per cent; in the two years after surgery, 73 per cent
of patients had no symptoms."

Although these are big falls 65 patients is not a large group. I'm not
surprised the MS Society is cautious at this stage.

~~~
blrgeek
If 95% of the patients would have MS symptoms continue for two years at least,
then having only 27% of the patients show symptoms 2 year on, is insanely
significant statistically.

Similarly, if the average number of active lesions stayed at 50% for a control
group, and fell to 12% for the test group, that's statistically significant.

Even if the group is small if the observed deviation is high then the
observation is significant! Sample size is only half the story.

~~~
streety
I appreciate that the effect is medically significant but the intervention was
conducted at just one centre. Can it be repeated or is it particular to this
centre? There are many, highly statistically significant, results published
which faded into obscurity because nobody was able to repeat the results. I
hope this isn't the case here but until it is repeated we can't know for sure.

The other point to note is that this article has been written for mass
consumption and as such highlights the good but perhaps also misses the
problems. I've had a quick look for a peer-reviewed article. I've found this
([http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2647682/?tool=pu...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2647682/?tool=pubmed))
which I think talks about the initial part of this study but it doesn't
include the 2 year follow up.

I really do hope this is as positive as it initially sounds but there is still
some way to go yet.

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teuobk
Assuming that the treatment is proved to be successful -- and despite
promising early results, that's still a ways off -- what happens to the
various "find a cure for MS" organizations? Would they go away quietly? Is
there a precedent for such an event?

~~~
Nogwater
The closest thing that came to mine was March of Dimes. Originally it targeted
Polio, but now it's "mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing
birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality"
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_Dimes>). So, maybe they move on to
fight another fight.

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andrewvc
_More radical still, the experimental surgery he performed on his wife offers
hope that MS, which afflicts 2.5 million people worldwide, can be cured and
even largely prevented._

Isn't that considered a breach of medical ethics, and generally just a bad
idea?

~~~
hallmark
The surgery may be experimental as a treatment for MS. But the procedure
itself for unclogging the veins sounds fairly straightforward for vascular
surgeons, Zamboni included.

~~~
andrewvc
I was thinking that operating on family / friends was considered a bad thing.
As an example

 _"physicians generally should not treat themselves or members of their
immediate families" because their professional objectivity may be compromised
in those situations. Exceptions are allowed for "short-term, minor problems"
or "in emergency or isolated settings."_

<http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20050300/41shou.html>

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klipt
If the numbers mentioned in the article are valid, it sounds like he's found a
cure for at least one cause of M.S. Whether it's the sole possible cause is
another question...

