Dutch study warns against Chinese stem-cell treatments


Leonard Van Den Berg, a neurologist at University Medical Centre in Utrecht, Netherlands, reported on followup studies of patients who went to China for treatment with a type of stem cell found in human fetal nasal lining (olfactory ensheathing cells, or OECs).


At Beijing West Hill Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, OECs are injected into the brains of ALS patients, at a cost of approximately $25,000.


A Dutch study followed 12 patients who went to Beijing. Seven reported very short-term improvement in functioning or an increase in strength immediately after the injections, lasting less than a day. Three saw no change, and two said they deteriorated.


ALSFRS scores, respiratory measurements and strength tests resumed a downward course in all cases. Of the 10 patients who later died, median survival time was 2.9 years. One person developed a serious blood clot, and another developed pneumonia.


Van Den Berg recommended that people not seek stem-cell treatments in Beijing. He also reported that the West Hill center has since closed, because the Chinese government considered it too “mercantile.”

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