Quote:
Originally Posted by HeavyDuty
Folks, I have a 57 yr old cousin who was diagnosed with PD 2 plus yrs ago. His particular form of PD appears very aggressive, beginning with gait and imbalance issue and quickly increasing to use of a catheter and other issues. He now has difficulty with speech and is constantly beset with tremors, shakes and things related and his family has found it necessary to recently locate him to a nursing home for improved ability to care and provide day to day needs. He is under the supervision of a neruosurgeon at Barnes Hosp in St. L and this surgeon has ruled out the use of Deep Brain Stimulation as a viable treatment protocol citing he has 'non typical' PD. No commentary (that I know of yet) on adult stem cell therapy.
|
Hi,
I am very sorry to hear of what you and your family, especially your cousin, are going through. I can't directly answer your stem cell questions but would like to suggest some things.
1. The rapid progression is somewhat alarming and some of the motor symptoms like postural instability are rather unusual that early after diagnosis. I think the DBS neuro's comment that your cousin is non-typical PD more than warrants a second opinion. Several other neurodegenerative disorders look like PD early on with tremor and slowness but falling or balance issues as presenting signs may mean it is something else. Has your cousin been diagnosed by a Movement Disorder Specialist (a neurology sub-specialty) and has he been given a trial of levodopa (Sinemet) as drug therapy...if definitively PD, his symptoms should respond somewhat, if not dramatically so, to this drug...if you can't be sure of all this, please seek another opinion.
Differential Diagnosis Information from WeMove.org
In addition to seeking a second opinion, I would also expect that your cousin undergo a PET scan of his brain to measure dopamine levels in his brain- this is further hard proof of PD or something else.
2. Stem Cell treatment is considered an experimental treatment, at best, for us right now. You won't hear commentary because doctors will not usually outwardly support it due to lack of standardized, statistically significant trial results. I have only heard of X Cell and all that we hear is anecdotal. They published a study of results recently showing improvement in many of their PD patients; however, before I would willingly undergo treatment I want to see independent (that is outside of their web page or press release junket) studies published in outside peer reviewed scientific or medical journals.
Hope this helps some ,
Laura