Katherine Knox is a director of the Saskatoon MS Clinic and an assistant professor with the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. (CBC)

It will be several months, at least, before a new clinical trial of the so-called liberation treatment for multiple sclerosis can begin in this province, says the doctor who heads the Saskatoon MS clinic.

Dr. Katherine Knox spoke Wednesday with reporters about prospects for proceeding with such trials after Premier Brad Wall pledged earlier this summer that the Saskatchewan government would pay for them.

The liberation treatment is based on the theory that narrow veins restrict the flow of blood from from the brain and are linked to the disease.

MS has long been known as a neurological disease that can affect mobility, in some cases leaving sufferers unable to walk. Neurologists believe it's an auto-immune disorder.

Recently, an alternative, and controversial, theory has gained attention, linking MS to a vascular problem known as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency or CCSVI.

The treatment for CCSVI involves surgery — angioplasty — to open up collapsed veins in the neck.

In Canada, medicare doesn't cover the procedure when it's used as a treatment for MS.

Dozens of people from Saskatchewan, along with many others from around the country, have been paying out of pocket and going to Bulgaria, Poland and other countries for the treatment.

But Knox said there are still many questions about the extent to which narrowed veins are linked to MS.

Doctors here will need to know more before they can select patients for the procedure, she told a news conference Wednesday.

"The question is, will there be more benefit than harm by doing a premature treatment trial and possibly treating people that shouldn't be in the treatment group or missing people that should be in the treatment group?" she asked.

Knox said her priority right now is to get another study off the ground that will define which patients are candidates for the procedure.

That study can begin as soon as it receives ethics approval from the University of Saskatchewan.

Knox said she's also waiting for more information from a meeting of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research being held Thursday in Ottawa.