text_1: Doctor Challenges Cause Of MS And Treatment
text_2: This story explores the controversy surrounding a new surgical procedure, similar to balloon angioplasty for blocked coronary arteries, that purportedly treats multiple sclerosis. The story’s emphasis on skeptical perspectives is appropriate for a treatment that hasn’t been rigorously studied and whose biological basis remains questionable. And in a story where it would have been all too easy to profile someone with a “miracle” recovery following the procedure, the writer defies convention and focuses on the disappointed patient who didn’t derive the expected benefit. For all its appropriate caution, the story lacks the exploration of evidence that we feel is the core of any good health story. It talks a lot about conflicting studies and quotes various expert opinions, but it never provides a run down of what kinds of studies have been performed and what they’ve found so far. This kind of information is critical for informed decision-making about treatments. Multiple sclerosis is a condition that rightly instills fear in patients who have been diagnosed with it. Despite this fear, for many the course of MS is slow and not associated with significant impairment. However, for some it is a relapsing and remitting condition that inexorably progresses to disability. Though there are FDA approved treatments for MS, the treatments have modest benefit and real side effects. Thus, any new treatment that offers a cure or can slow down or reverse the course would be of tremendous interest to those affected. The problem is that in the desperate search for a cure, patients, family and providers can seek out risky and expensive treatments that haven’t been adequately studied.