MS (Multiple Sclerosis) is unlikely to be caused by obstructions in the neck veins of people with the disease according to research at VU University medical centre. Researchers at the VUmc MS Centre Amsterdam advise against a treatment (by angioplasty) of the veins. In a recently completed study, the VUmc MS Centre Amsterdam found that neck vein abnormalities were as common in people with MS as in healthy people. Moreover, the study found that these variations did not impact the outflow of blood from the brain.
Last year, there was considerable interest among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) when Zamboni, an Italian vascular surgeon, presented a new theory on the cause of MS, with the prospect of treatment. The accepted theory is that MS is caused by a disruption of the immune system. According to Zamboni however, MS is caused by altered flow in the draining veins of the brain as a result of which the blood has difficulty leaving the brain and even flows the wrong way.
In the VUmc study, twenty MS patients and a control group of twenty people without MS were examined with an imaging technique (MR venography). The study looked at the presence of obstructions in the neck veins and the blood outflow in the brain.
Narrowing in the head and neck veins were found in eight of the 20 healthy participants and in ten of the 20 MS patients. The size and direction of blood flow in the brain was normal for all 40 participants. Therefore, abnormalities in the venous system occurred with roughly the same frequency in MS patients as in healthy participants. Because none of those examined showed any obstruction in blood flow in the brain, the researchers argued that these are normal variations and certainly do not indicate abnormalities that require treatment.
The VUmc research was conducted with relatively few test subjects. It is therefore possible that other techniques will provide additional insight into the structure and function of the vascular system with MS patients. The VUmc MS Centre Amsterdam will continue research with a larger group of MS patients, healthy control participants and patients with other neurological disorders. This research will involve Doppler-echography as well as MR venography.
The follow-up research project will be made possible by the financial support of the Dutch MS Research Foundation.