Glossary of CCSVI terms

A

Azygos Vein: The azygos vein drains the back of the chest and the spine.  We only have one of these which feeds blood to the vena cava.

Arteries: The blood vessels that take the blood away from the heart.  Their walls are usually thick and muscular and do not have valves as veins do.

Aetiology: The study of the causes of a disease.

B

Balloon Angioplasty: a method used to widen narrow or obstructed arteries, but the term is also commonly applied to the procedure when treating veins. The correct term for this procedure when applied to a vein is Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty (PTA). A collapsed balloon on the end of a catheter is inserted in the vein and inflated, thus widening it. The usual way to insert the catheter is from the femoral vein in the groin.

C

CCSVI – Chronic Cerebro-Spinal Venous Insufficiency: a term coined by Prof Zamboni describing the inadequate drainage of the brain and spinal cord by the jugular and azygos veins.  We should all have two functioning internal jugulars and one functioning azygos vein.  The jugular veins do present a different profile depending on the position of the body.  When a person is upright they tend to flatten which is normal, they come into their own when a person is lying down. The problem occurs when the jugular is permanently constricted.   In some people one of these veins appears to be missing.

D

Doppler: a Doppler is a diagnostic sonographic scanner.   There are scanners suited to a wide variety of applications, most scanners being configured to deal with a specific kind of diagnostic procedure.  A Colour Doppler is the best method to detect blood flow.

J

Jugular vein: There are two internal Jugular veins which are relatively wide veins running down the inside of our neck, additionally we have two smaller external jugular veins running nearer the surface.   The two internal jugular veins are where the problems of obstruction or collapse are most commonly found.

L

Liberation: a term for the PTA procedure coined by colleagues of Prof Zamboni to describe the process of opening up the veins that drain the brain.   When simple PTA is performed there is nothing left in the vein once the procedure has ended, however it is not always permanent.  An estimated 50% of people will have to have the procedure repeated over time. The alternative is to place a stent in the vein. This supports the vein in the open position but is not without risks, however it is regularly used in a variety of other venous conditions.

M

MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imagery is used to examine organs inside the body.  It provides a good level of contrast between different types of tissues, and is commonly used in the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.

MRV: Magnetic resonance venography, a test similar to MRI which is based on the different properties of blood compared to other tissues.

MS: Multiple Sclerosis – a term meaning ‘many scars’ relates to lesions distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous system, first coined by Charcot.

P

PTA: Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty, see also Balloon Angioplasty

S

Stent: a man-made tubular mesh that is very supple and used to keep veins that are stenosed open and operating normally.

Stenosis: the name given to the condition where a vessel has collapsed or is blocked in a number of different ways. Plural: stenoses.

V

Veins: The blood vessels which take the de-oxygenated blood back to the heart, they have valves which can sometimes block the lumen (channel in which the blood flows).

Z

Zamboni: Prof P Zamboni, Vascular Surgeon at the University of Ferrara in Italy who carried out the most recent study of the veins of people with MS symptoms.