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What is angioplasty?
Balloon angioplasty is a common procedure performed everyday with minimal risk. Using a plastic catheter with a sausage shaped balloon at the tip (which will be used to enlarge narrowing). The catheter is inserted through the groin and moved through the body to the area of blockage or “stenosis”. Once the stenosis is found the balloon is inflated and deflated several times. This ensures that the vein will now maintain a normal diameter, which will aid in proper blood flow; the balloon is then deflated and withdrawn from the body.
Angioplasty …
This simple procedure is denied to only one group of Canadians – those carrying the label ‘multiple sclerosis’.
We are denied equal protection of the law of Medicare; we are denied equal benefit under the law of Medicare. We live and die by our label – ‘multiple sclerosis’ – not even a true disease. We live and die by a word attached to us and used to categorize us as people that are deemed not to benefit from angioplasty.
AFA is in the process of launching a Legal Challenge, with the goal of making it possible for MS patients to receive the same angioplasty treatment to clear constricted veins that is available to other Canadians.
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