Multiple Sclerosis: a Bias Debate

See the full Globe and Mail Article here.
Read about Italy, location of Zamboni's practice, here.
See a map of Italy here.

Article Summary

-Conflict of interest is keeping Zamboni’s new MS treatment (see info here) out of Canadian hospitals:
            -Canada’s health sector wants to maintain the use of the current MS medications
            -Zamboni wants to find a proper treatment for the welfare of his patients

-Zamboni declared that MS could be cured with his revolutionary treatment rather than with medication, he also announced that he had no ties that could compel his research at all

-One such ‘tie’, however, is the up-to $250,000 in medical imagery equipment his lab received from Esaote, an equipment manufacturing company with whom Zamboni has a “historical co-operation”

-Esaote’s equipment is mostly for the development of neurovascular disease research: their ties with Zamboni also include their participation in the International Society for Neurovascular Disease, an organization Dr Zamboni leads

-A McGill University expert says that companies financially involved in getting the product (the new MS treatment) into commercial use, will often not be as stringent in publicizing or recording poor test results or information

-Zamboni says there is no real conflict: Esaote’s contributions have only been to help his lab, not him personally.

-Zamboni’s results with MS treatment have been criticized publicly, Zamboni says the lack of repeated success from other doctors is the result of improper technique

Analysis

Complex

Interrelated

Social	Economic	Political
-Treatment not being used in Canada’s healthcare system -Conflicts stand in way of healthcare development	-Economic (and likely contract-related) ties influence in Canada not taking the treatment into their system -Drug companies that currently provide MS treatment are likely opposed to the development of this new treatment a) it possibly reduces the need for medication. b) is patented as intellectual property of Dr Zamboni	-Practice of treatment unable to take place in Canada -Development undergone instead in Europe

Controversial

How did this issue start?

How should it be resolved?

When Dr Zamboni began making his ‘liberation therapy’ publicly known, as with any emerging science there were people who opposed and those who questioned his practices. Most of the controversy comes from different people in the medical field attempting to disprove his techniques.  As well, the debate over Zamboni’s biases and Western healthcare’s biases in the matter stem from people studying the motivations of each group.

Like any medical practice, Zamboni’s Liberation Therapy can’t be proven or disproven by people on one side of the argument or another. I believe full co-operation between parties on both sides could effectively solve whether or not the treatment works. His treatment has raised enough attention in the medical world to be worth, in my eyes, investigating. Co-operation could effectively overrule the current conflicts of interest and the biases present within the different parties involved!

My Thoughts

            Really, all I can say is that more research must be done on this topic. It’s a scientific matter, and that’s one of the most common conclusions to any study in a scientific field: more research.

            The whole matter of differing opinions and study results as to the cure for MS requires more clarification in the future. There are years of research in each side of the debate, but science is one field that is constantly changing and must constantly be researched. Few to no matters in science are absolutely solid and factual. For example, just as Dr Zamboni’s treatment has seen definite success in some cases, there is a chance these cases were not Multiple Sclerosis at all, but another neurovascular illness with similar symptoms, misdiagnosed as MS! Until variables like this can be compensated for with vast quantities of scientific studies and experiments, there is no way a definite answer can be reached and the controversy can subside.



Mary Tress

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