First Saskatchewan resident heads to U.S. for possible MS liberation therapy

SASKATOON – A Saskatchewan man who is going to the U.S. to see if he can take part in the so-called liberation treatment for multiple sclerosis says he’s both terrified and excited.

Andrew Dahlen is the first Saskatchewan resident to go to Albany, N.Y., for the final eligibility screening in a two-year, double-blind clinical trial.

The province is putting up $2.2 million to have 86 Saskatchewan patients take part.

The nature of the double-blind study means half of those participating in the trial will receive liberation therapy and half will get a placebo procedure.

Dahlen says even if he were to get the placebo, that would stillbe good research on the progression of MS.

The 28-year-old Saskatoon resident also says the possible benefit would outweigh the risks.

The therapy was devised by Italian physician Paolo Zamboni, who has suggested MS may be caused by narrowed veins that prevent blood from properly draining from the brain. He says that could result in iron deposits that damage neurons. Zamboni calls the condition chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI.

His treatment uses balloon angioplasty to open up the veins in the same way coronary arteries narrowed by plaque are unblocked.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in May about liberation therapy.

The FDA warned health-care professionals and patients that injuries and deaths have been associated with the use of the experimental procedure.