New grant to study venous insufficiency role in multiple sclerosis

Posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

The Medical School is one of three institutions in the United States to receive an initial grant to study chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) in multiple sclerosis (MS). The grant is part of an over $2.3 million joint commitment from the National MS Society and the MS Society of Canada.

According to the National MS Society, the new studies will carry out significant steps needed to confirm the phenomenon originally described by Dr. Paolo Zamboni and resolve the questions raised by him and others whether CCSVI is a cause of MS, or related to MS.

Dr. Jerry Wolinsky, the Bartels Family and Opal C. Rankin Professor of Neurology, is principal investigator of a study that will attempt to reproduce the ultrasound approach used by Zamboni to investigate the association of CCSVI with major clinical types of MS and in non-MS control groups. The research team also will test whether other imaging methods—such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—can confirm the ultrasound findings while identifying the most reliable technique to screen for CCSVI.

“The team of accomplished investigators assembled at UTHealth is interdisciplinary and dedicated to understanding the uniqueness and importance of this observation for patients with multiple sclerosis. We are humbled by the support shown by the National MS Society that we will be able to help unravel its significance for understanding the disease,” said Wolinsky, a member of the faculty of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and director of the MS Research Group.

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupting the flow of information within the brain and from the brain to the body. It affects more than 400,000 people in the United States and 2.1 million in the world.

The studies’ goals are to resolve conflicting data from previous research, such as how frequently CCSVI occurs in MS and how often it occurs in people who do not have MS. If blockages are found, the Society said in a press release, the findings will speed the way to determining whether therapeutic trials to correct them will be helpful in improving, or altering, the MS disease process.

The two other U.S. institutions receiving two-year grants beginning July 1 are the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Four institutions in Canada also have been awarded research grants. To learn more about all funded grants and about CCSVI, visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website.

— Deborah Mann Lake, Media Relations, Office of Institutional Advancement

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