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Speaker counsels colleagues on stem cell treatment for pediatric vision brain disease
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 Lawrence Tychsen |
SAN DIEGO — Taking on the topic of stem cell tourism, a speaker here cautioned colleagues to ready a response for when they are inevitably asked about the availability of stem cell treatment for pediatric vision brain disease.
Proponents' rationales for promoting stem cell tourism for pediatric vision brain disease include that the therapy is prohibited in the United States or that it is sound and efficacious but simply not available in the U.S. However, both of these arguments are false, Lawrence Tychsen, MD, said at the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus meeting.
There are no current therapies available that use human embryonic stem cells, but there are more than 100 proven and efficacious therapies for various conditions using human adult and umbilical cord stem cells, Dr. Tychsen said.
"And there are hundreds of clinical trials, funded and approved, using adult human stem cells," he said.
Addressing whether stem cell tourism for these vision disorders works, Dr. Tychsen described six children aged 1 to 12 years with pediatric vision brain disease whose families undertook expensive trips to a hospital in China where once-weekly intravenous or intrathecal stem cell therapy was given. The hospital offered umbilical cord stem cell therapy but without HLA matching, Dr. Tychsen said.
After at least 2 years of follow-up in the U.S., "no child had an objective improvement in any measurement of visual function or structure," Dr. Tychsen said.
Stem cell tourism providers are financially successful because they play on the parents' anxieties, he said.
"As pediatric ophthalmologists, it is dependent upon us to do all that we can for our patients with serious pediatric vision brain disease," he said. So, when asked about the topic, pediatric ophthalmologists should kindly relate that this treatment is not efficacious in these cases, he said.
- Disclosure: Dr. Tychsen reports no relevant financial disclosures.
As pediatric ophthalmologists, we must commend Dr. Larry Tychsen for the incredible amount of time and work he has spent for the safety and protection of patients. As he discussed at the AAPOS meeting, human umbilical cord stem cells are infused intravenously or intrathecally at a hospital in China for the purpose of treating pediatric ophthalmic conditions that are otherwise untreatable. Emotionally for parents, this sounds like great news. However, Dr. Tychsen has studied eight of these patients who have returned after stem cell treatment, and he has documented absolutely no success with the treatment.
This is extremely clinically relevant because all pediatric ophthalmologists will ultimately be questioned by parents willing to travel to China for this treatment.
– Anthony P. Johnson, MD
OSN
Pediatrics/Strabismus Board Member
Disclosure: Dr. Johnson reports no
relevant financial disclosures.