Massimiliano Farina

Alliance Medical Group · Vascular Surgery and Angiology

Background: The pathophysiological mechanism defined " chronic cerebrospinal venous insuf-ficiency " (CCSVI) diagnosed using Zamboni criteria has raised a heated debate about possible correlations with several neurological disorders, but also on subjectivity of these ultrasono-graphic criteria used for its diagnosis. Although in 2011 new criteria h...

To date, choroidal blood flow reduction in highly myopic eyes appears to be related to the development of choroidal neovascularization secondary to local reduction of arterial flow. Instead, no evidence of choroidal neovascularization was found in subjects with low or moderate myopia. The authors’ aim has been to encourage new studies regarding the...

Left and right anterior jugular veins (AJV) during a normal breathing and at Valsalva manoeuvre. The right vein shows a normal outflow with temporary blocked flow during the Valsalva. Along the left vein we see a spontaneous reflux during the normal breathing with a massive increase evoked from the Valsalva also interesting the homolateral anterio...

Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) is a vascular condition characterized by anomalies of the internal jugular veins (IJVs) and/or azygos veins with disturbed flow and formation of collateral venous channels. The presence of CCSVI has been associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Percutaneous venous angioplasty (PVA) has been propose...

Normally, chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) has been studied using echo-colour Doppler (ECD). Subjects are examined in the supine and sitting positions, in accordance with a static protocol without rotation of the head. A dynamic approach, to assess venous sizes with different degrees of head rotation, has only been performed to im...

Objectives: Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) is a malformative condition characterized by several anomalies of the azygos and/or internal jugular veins (IJVs). Recommended diagnosis of CCSVI is performed with colour-Doppler (CD) sonography. Though catheter venography (CV) is considered as the gold standard for determining vascula...

Neck veins ultrasound (US) examination has reached a relevant level of attention due to the definition of Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI) and due to various studies on different neurological disorders. Echo-Color Doppler (ECD) technology is a reliable diagnostic technique for Internal Jugular Vein (IJV) and Vertebral Vein (VV) ex...

Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) has recently been reported to be associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, its actual prevalence, possible association with specific MS phenotypes, and potential pathophysiological role are debated. We analysed the clinical data of 710 MS patients attending six centres (five Italian and one...

Our objective was to study the effects of tamoxifen on cerebral arterial reactivity. We studied the reactivity of both the internal carotid artery and the middle cerebral artery during a 12-month period of administration of either oral tamoxifen or transdermal estradiol or no treatment. A total of 45 healthy postmenopausal women who had undergone h...

The authors studied the long-term effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on vascular resistance of internal carotid artery (ICA) and middle cerebral artery (MCA) in postmenopausal women. Twenty-five postmenopausal women participated in this 1-year, single-center, open study. Subjects received continuous estradiol 50 mu g/day via transdermal r...

To investigate the effects of the suspension of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on cerebral blood flow, we evaluated 23 postmenopausal women who were on continuous administration of transdermal estradiol and cyclical supplementation of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) for 12 days every second month. The duration of the study was 12 months.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the suspension of hormone replacement therapy on blood flow in the internal carotid and the middle cerebral arteries. Doppler ultrasonography was used to measure the pulsatility index of the internal carotid and middle cerebral arteries of 23 women. The patients were all receiving continuous tra...

To evaluate the effect of the hypoestrogenism induced by GnRH agonist (GNRH-a) therapy on cerebral vessel blood flow. Open, controlled study. Tertiary care units of the University of Milan, Italy. Young women scheduled to undergo 6 months of therapy with a GnRH-a; a control group was also enrolled. In both groups, the pulsatility index of both the...

To investigate vascular reactivity in women's cerebral arteries from reproductive age to postmenopause. The pulsatility index (PI) was measured cross-sectionally in the internal carotid and middle cerebral arteries of 120 women, using a Doppler ultrasound system. Fifteen women were enrolled in each of eight 5-year intervals, spanning ages 20-59 yea...

Our purpose was to clarify the mechanisms by which postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy exerts its protective effect on cardiovascular risk. By means of a bidirectional Doppler ultrasonographic system we measured pulsatility index variations the internal carotid artery and middle cerebral artery in 25 early postmenopausal women during a 6-mo...