December 8, 2011 at 10:21am
If you haven't read yesterday's rather paradigm-shifting news about MS and the gray matter, look down a couple of posts.
In a nutshell--researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, and also Yale- have come forward with new evidence that confirms decades worth of research showing that MS is not primarily an autoimmune disease of the white matter, it is first a disease of gray matter.
The researchers admit that they do not know how current disease modifying drugs address cortical brain damage, and there are no current therapies created for this purpose. This is most likely why MS disease progression continues while patients are on the drugs, even though relapse numbers may be diminished. This is why gray matter atrophy is the biomarker for MS disease progression.
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How does that fit in with Dr. Zamboni's discovery?
The gray matter uses 94% of the brain's oxygen supply. Because of this, gray matter is especially sensitive to any low oxygen environment.
The gray matter is densly packed with blood delivering capillaries. The blood is what gives gray matter it's color and density. Any endothelial dysfunction in this region can increase the risk of damage. Any refluxive flow, break in the blood brain barrier, any iron or heme deposition into brain tissue from microvascular leakage, can affect this part of our brain and create inflammation.
In other words---adequate blood flow and perfusion is essential in this area of the brain. For delivery of nutrients and oxygen, for removal of waste, for shear stress to maintain a healthy blood brain barrier. Venous insufficiency and reflux is disasterous to the gray matter and can create inflammation.
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Many of the doctors involved in CCSVI research (Haacke, Hubbard, Dake) have written about the deep cerebral drainage of the cortex, and how this can be impacted by venous insufficiency.
