MS Program Halted Amid Controversy
By THOMAS M. BURTON
Stanford University vascular specialist Michael D. Dake has done pioneering work at the hospital's cardiac-catheterization labs, like fixing certain aortic aneurysms once thought untreatable.
But Dr. Dake's experimenting touched off a furor at the university recently when—based on preliminary research by an Italian surgeon—he inserted metal stents into the internal jugular veins of multiple sclerosis patients. Doctors are generally allowed to adapt for new uses devices, like stents, that have received Food and Drug Administration approval.
In December, Dr. Dake's 40-patient MS stenting program was shut down, according to Stanford officials. A number of patients treated by Dr. Dake had reported improvements in their symptoms following the procedure. However, one patient died of a brain hemorrhage on the way home from treatment and another had to undergo life-saving emergency surgery. Neurologists from Stanford and the University of California, San Francisco, had protested to Stanford medical school officials that the procedure was too untested to be used in people. It's not clear which factors contributed to the program's ending.
Continue reading by clicking here to read this Wall Street Journal report
Also to see a diagram of the jugulars involved with this procedure
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