China "stem cell therapies" offer heartbreak for many

[manouli]

China "stem cell therapies" offer heartbreak for many


Reuters) - Chinese hotel manager Hong Chun had trouble using chopsticks after a minor stroke and sought treatment at a large Shanghai hospital where doctors injected what they said were donor stem cells into his spinal cord and buttocks, according to his father and cousin.
Leaving hospital the next day, Hong, 27, fell so ill he had to be taken off the train and rushed to another hospital. But doctors were unable to save him and he was declared brain dead before dying a month later.

Desperate for help, patients with incurable diseases are admitting themselves into hospitals in China for "stem cell therapies" but experts say such treatments are backed by little or no scientific evidence and are at best experimental.

Some of these cases involve large general hospitals where patients pay thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars for treatments that are advertised online. Patients have come away with little or no improvement and a number have died, according to patients, doctors and relatives of patients who spoke to Reuters.

Hong paid 30,000 yuan ($4,800) to the Chinese army's 455 PLA Hospital in Shanghai for the treatment last year, according to hospital receipts seen by Reuters.

His father, Hong Gensho, travelled to Shanghai to seek an explanation. But hospital administrators told him his son didn't die in their hospital, paid him 80,000 yuan and told him not to pursue the matter.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...78K18120110921



Factbox: How advanced is stem cell research?




By Tan Ee Lyn

HONG KONG | Wed Sep 21, 2011 3:44am EDT

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Desperate for a remedy, patients with incurable diseases are admitting themselves into hospitals from China and India to Mexico, Russia and Turkey for "stem cell therapies" that are backed by little or no scientific evidence and at best only experimental.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...78K18620110921