The MS Society and a patient advocate of multiple sclerosis have favored controversial CCSVI procedure or liberation treatment that was developed by Italian doctor Paolo Zamboni last year.

CCSVI procedure claims to relieve some of the symptoms of degenerative disease that is caused due to the blocking of neck veins. The procedure involves placing a stent or employing an angioplasty to unclog neck veins.

Canada has not authorized the liberation treatment, but there are being carried out observational studies by numerous provinces and the MS Society on the patients that take up the same treatment from outside the Canada to asses if their symptoms improved. Patients who have received treatment in other countries had experienced good results.

Rebecca Cooney, who initiated the MS liberation support group in Ottawa expressed her disappointment over the non-approval of liberation treatment in Canada as angioplasty was already approved there. She stated that even though public had supported the procedure, it remained in media and came with a new story every day.

She said, "Especially for people who have progressive forms (of MS), where there's no other treatment, because there are no drugs approved for progressive MS, why can't you try this?"

In the last summer, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research stated that before conducting clinical trials on the procedure, the treatment could not be given a go. Also, they were concerned about side-effects of the surgery that includes clotting.