Update 1/22/2010:
I had the opportunity to interview Lew Chapman on 1/16/2010. Lew was able to have the Liberation Treatment (an angioplasty) for CCSVI in July.
Lew states that Dr. Dake at Stanford University is no longer taking patients by appointment, but Stanford is accepting applications for a study on CCSVI as the cause of Multiple Sclerosis.
For some reason I made the mistaking of saying Dr. Zamboni who discovered CCSVI is located in Canada. This was a slip of the tongue on my part. Dr. Zamboni is located in Italy, but the in depth news report on CCSVI was produced and aired by CTV (Canada TV). To watch the full report click on the image to the upper right.
I ran out of time to cover this on the air, but I asked Lew how much the Liberation Treatment did cost, and it was $70,000+ but luckily insurance covered the procedure because it could be demonstrated constricted veins were causing other health problems, like massive headaches.
I was able to contact the office of Tomasz Ludyga in Poland. You can see the price schedule I was quoted here. According to Dr. Ludyga’s office, the most expensive procedure that includes consultation, screening, and two stints–that means an angioplasty for two different veins–costs 4700 euros. As of today’s conversion rate, that translates into $6,640.67.
On today’s show I’m going to be talking about the previous two posts I’ve made, and the U.S. media blackout on M.S. research being done abroad.
I know many people in the U.S. think we have the greatest health care system in the world, But this is totally overlooking the fact Medical Tourism is a growing industry. The U.S. media leads everyone to believe people are traveling to the U.S. when they need medical care. This is not necessarily the case. One web site that specializes in medical tourism, medicaltourism.com, states the most frequent destinations for medical tourism are:
- Costa Rica
- India
- Israel
- Mexico
- South Korea and
- Thailand
The most common treatments people are receiving are:
- ACLS (advanced cardiac life support)
- Hip Replacement
- Partial Knee Replacement
- Root Canals
- Spinal fusion
- TURP (transurethral resection of the prostate)
Another web site specializing in medical tourism is medretreat.com.
I read a post by one woman who stated she had an unsuccessful IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) treatment in the U.S. for $10,000 and had the same treatment in Poland which was successful for $800. That means it was cheaper to go on vacation to Poland than to have the procedure done here in the U.S. ivfpolandexperts.com.
A site promoting stem cell treatments in China, stemcellschina.com is linking to an article from Utah’s own Daily Herald on Tori Schmanski, who traveled to China for a stem cell treatment. Tori was disabled after a being submerged Under water in a car accident.
While my sister-in-law was having was having her monthly Tysabri infusion she recently talked to a man who was traveling to China for stem cell treatment for Multiple Sclerosis.
Back to Multiple Sclerosis. It looks like the actual cause for Multiple Sclerosis has been found, and therefore a cure. If you know anyone who has Multiple Sclerosis, you understand what a big deal this is. People with Multiple Sclerosis slowly wind down over a number of years as the neurological damage accumulates.
Currently in the U.S. there are two (2) main treatments for MS: Avonex which runs around $1500 a month, and Tysabri which runs around $2500 a month.
According to Dr. Paolo Zamboni of Ferrara, Italy the cause of MS–the trigger that sets off the disease–is actually caused by constricted veins that do not allow blood to drain from the brain. I’m going to play you some of the audio today, but that truly can not do this report justice. I would like to urge everyone to go to the CTV (Canada TV) web site and watch the full program. There will be subtitles for the Italian patients who have had the liberation treatment along with fantastic video footage of imaging from MS patients so you can see what the constricted veins look like for yourself: The Liberation Treatment: A whole new approach for MS
I setup the web site ccsvims.com to try to make a list of doctors who will screen for CCSVI or perform the Liberation Treatment. Aside from Dr. Drake in California, it looks like the best option is a doctor named Tomasz Ludyga in Poland, but I need find someone who speaks Polish to contact EuroMedic for me. If you speak Polish and can help out, please contact me.
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