The Stem Cell Trekker » quack clinic

False Hope And Cold Reality

Paul — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 12:03:33 +0000

Hope in reality is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.

IN the last two months, two news items that made international headlines were linked by the themes of stem cells and hope.

Dr Robert Trossel started to give stem cell injections to patients with multiple sclerosis about a decade ago. This was and still is unproven therapy.

Dr Trossel’s practices were highlighted in a BBC Newsnight investigation in 2006. The following year, he was suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC). A hearing of the GMC fitness to practise panel said that Dr Trossel had exaggerated the benefits of stem cell treatment based on “anecdotal and aspirational information”.

Finally, the GMC took the decision to strike off Dr. Trossel from the medical register for giving false hope to desperate patients, charging thousands of pounds for “pointless” and “unjustifiable” stem cell treatments. Dr Trossel can no longer practise medicine in the UK.

False hope. Is there any other kind? Is hope overrated? To some, it is the only thing to live for. They may go along with Oliver Goldsmith, who said, “Hope, like the gleaming Taper’s light, adorns and cheers our way; and still, as darker grows the night, emits a brighter ray.”

Read the full article at The Star Online.

Illegal Stem Cell Practices Worry ICMR Chief

Paul — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:02:12 +0000

Several stem cell treatment practices are carried out in the country without government accreditation and a strong mechanism is needed to curb them, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr. V. M. Katoch, said here on Sunday.

Speaking at a stem cell research conclave at Hyatt Regency in Andheri (East), he said, “The current guidelines, implemented in 2007 pertain only to research activities. But many leading private hospitals across the country are clinically implementing treatments that are still in the trial stage, particularly for neurological disorders.”

He said the only stem cell therapy approved by the ICMR for clinical application was in the area of bone marrow. “Brain tissue regeneration and many umbilical cord blood cell treatments being practised have not been cleared by the Government of India,” he cautioned.

Read the full article: Click here.

U.K. Stem Cell Medic Misconduct Ruling

Paul — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:44:45 +0000

A doctor who offered controversial stem cell treatments to multiple sclerosis patients faces being struck off by the U.K.’s General Medical Council.

Dutch-trained Dr. Robert Trossel teated nine men and women with stem cells not designed for human use.

A GMC hearing has found his fitness to practice was impaired and that he breached “good medical practice”.

It will decide later this month whether to remove him from the medical register or impose a lesser penalty.

The GMC panel said Dr Trossel had exaggerated the benefits of treatment based on “anecdotal and aspirational information”.

Read full article.

“Quack Clinics” Are A Major Cause For Concern

Paul — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:45:08 +0000

The recent raid on an illegal stem cell in Hungary is a sign of a very disturbing phenomenon: the quack stem cell clinic. The clinics have sprung up all over the world in countries that do not regulate medical treatments as closely as the United States. The clinics charge huge fees for stem cell treatments for dozens of diseases and conditions, but offer no scientific evidence of the safety or effectiveness of their procedures. In the case of a Chinese hospital, “We don’t even know what the clinic doctors are injecting into patients and what happens to the cells, if any are even present. There are risks to the procedure without any evidence of benefit.”

By Steven Novella, “Quack Clinics”, © Science-Based Medicine, August 5, 2009