d'Alessandro, Aldo, Niglio, Tarcisio, Desogus, Antonello et al. · Annali italiani di chirurgia · 2015
This study describes one patient with multiple sclerosis who also had chronic problems with blood flow in the brain and spine (CCSVI). The patient was treated with a non-invasive device called Dreno-MAM® that uses acoustic waves to improve circulation. After two years of follow-up, the patient reported improvements in muscle strength, fatigue, and overall quality of life, and the authors suggest this approach might help people with ME/CFS and other neurological conditions.
This study is relevant to ME/CFS research because the authors explicitly propose that acoustic wave therapy could be investigated in chronic fatigue syndrome, given improvements in fatigue and functional capacity observed in their MS patient. Understanding novel non-pharmacological approaches to neurological fatigue and vascular insufficiency may inform ME/CFS treatment development.
This case report does not prove that acoustic wave therapy is effective for ME/CFS—the study involves only one MS patient, lacks a control group, and has not been tested in ME/CFS populations. The authors have only suggested the method might work in ME/CFS; no empirical evidence in ME/CFS patients is presented. The improvements observed may be attributable to natural disease variation, placebo effect, or concurrent interventions rather than the acoustic wave device itself.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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