Has anyone had an experience with autologous stem cell transplant or have thoughts on this? I've read positive articles but where are the success stories? I know that if it were any of us here, we would be sharing our experiences.

Other than the cost, I do not see any drawbacks.

Different names for it.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-proc...n/prc-20013565

There are different types but I am specifically referring to autologous stem cell transplantation for PN.

That is mentioned in the site I gave. Autologous stem cells are from your own body. You probably already know this. I did not. Learn something every day.

Ah yes, thank you Kitt.

Have you seen/read anything about stem cells being used for PN specifically?

Doc

Are you are talking about a bone marrow transplant using your own stem cells. If that's the case then big downsides are death, secondary clonal diseases, toxic drugs to kill your immune system, antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals to prevent or treat infections during the time you have no immune system...and the list goes on.

Even though the autologous stem cell transplant does not carry the risk of graft vs host disease, it is still very hard on your body. And if your PN is idiopathic I can't see anyone agreeing to do one.

Has anyone done stem cell transplants for idiopathic PN? They have done transplants as well as high dose cytoxan for those with other types autoimmune diseases. But that is usually after all other stuff has failed them.

John went through high dose cytoxan for Aplastic Anemia which basically wipes out your immune system but spares some of your own stem cells so they can regenerate the bone marrow. He ended up with PN and other collateral damage.

They have come a long way with transplants but it is still very risky.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19691534

Stem cells are being looked at for dorsal root damage that fails to self repair due to a genetic defect. Seems autologous cells would have the same defect? I don't know the details about stem cells.

Our MG board has a member who had the bone marrow reboot.
And this topic gets some discussion on our MS forum now and then.

There are several types of PN that may respond, but they are all slightly different. So how the stem cells would be applied --where they would be injected-- seems a big factor.

Somewhere here on the board I have a paper I linked to about stem cells for PN....

I am looking now for that paper... found this along the way:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0221125018.htm
This is interesting.

Also this:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0401102122.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0226135424.htm

I can't find the specific article right now... but it involved stem cells as a proposed treatment for dorsal root damage,that the patient cannot repair themselves due to genetic reasons for a lack of a specific enzyme.

Stem cell research seems to have alot of ups and downs, with many failures. So I don't think it has reached a level for general applications for patients, yet.

There are companies performing autologous stem cell transplantation on an outpatient basis. The procedure is indicated for several conditions: Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, Autoimmune PN, Type II Diabetes and more. The procedure involves harvesting a patient's own stem cells extracted from the abdomen (mini-liposuction procedure), laser application and systemic reintroduction. That's my understanding of the procedure anyway.

It is the Autoimmune PN indication that got my attention but I could not locate supporting data so I contacted one of the companies and they said the PN improvement has been when it is a secondary condition and that the results are very good. I was intrigued by this since those of us with IPN do not know what our primary condition is (although some of these unknown cases are probably autoimmune related) however I am unable to locate the data which likely means it does not exist. I thought to check here with others first before dismissing it .