I received this from Thomas Ichim, CEO of Stem Cell Patents. It's part of an interview that one of the doctors from ICM did with a reporter. I found it a good guide for those searching for stem cell therapy. Not all people are good candidates for treatment and if you are told that everyone sees improvements, etc, it may be a reason NOT to go to a particular clinic. Most reputable clinics will lay it on the line for you, but those that just want your money will continue to glow in the dark. This interview is good as the doctor offers up the peer reviewed paper to back up his words. Don't be afraid to really dig deep when searching for treatment.
Dr. Fabio Solano responds?
Ms. Perotin, (reporter)
Thank you for your interest in our medical practice.
I am an M.D. surgeon with 38 years of medical experience and 2.5 years
experience using stem cells. Up front I would like to say that I do
not make any promises of results to patients. All patients are
treated under informed consent on a patient/doctor relationship. In
this country I can treat a patient with stem cells if I think they
could benefit from the treatment and they are aware of the fact that
we do not know if the will receive any benefit and that there are
risks associated with the treatment. I only accept patients who I
think have a good risk to benefit ratio. Over 70 percent of the
patients who apply for treatment are rejected based on this.
I use only ethical, adult stem cells to treat my patients. Many
procedures use the patients' own bone marrow or fat stem cells. To
harvest the bone marrow we use standard bone marrow isolation. To
harvest fat we use standard liposuction techniques. We also use cells
from umbilical cord blood and matrix from healthy, live births, with
consent from the mother.
To use a patient example I treated 1.5 years ago a 38 y.o. man with
chronic kidney failure. The kidney failure was due to having
Diabetes type I. His medical options were to soon start on dialysis
and then look for a kidney transplant. He called me and I agreed to
treat him under informed consent. We isolated some bone marrow from
his iliac crests (hip bones) and processed it to isolate the stem
cells. Then, using catheterization under fluoroscopy we placed the
stem cells into the arteries feeding his kidneys. His kidney function
began to improve within weeks.
The side effects are associated with the bone marrow aspiration and
catheterization. We have had one patient bleed after the catheter,
but this was self-limited. All patients have either stabilized or had
improved kidney function. In all fairness I do not accept patients
with kidney failure so severe they are on dialysis already, so there
may be selection for patients who have a better chance.
To use another example, a 49 y.o. doctor from Texas came to visit us.
He had heart failure. He was on all of the medications his
cardiologist had at his disposal and his heart continued to fail. For
this gentleman I injected him with umbilical cord CD34+ cells and
umbilical cord matrix mesenchymal cells. CD34+ cells are in clinical
trials in the U.S. for the treatment of heart failure and mesenchymal
cells are in clinical trials there for people after they've had a
heart attack (Osiris.com). Just to address your safety issue question
here?all of the cells I use are tested and certified by independent
laboratories for infectious disease and sterility. For your
edification, umbilical cord stem cells (the entire cord blood) have
been used in hundreds of patients without side effects and the results
have been published in world-renowned journals such as the Lancet.
Our team wrote a paper about using umbilical cord cells for
regenerative medicine that was also published in a peer-reviewed
journal?a copy is attached.1 An interesting side note is that note is
that all mothers have some of the stem cells from their babies in
their bone and bone marrow up to 30 years after birth. These are
cells that are at least 50% genetically distinct from the mother. This
fact gives me even more peace about the safety of what I am doing than
the umbilical cord transplants?microchimerism (a few cells from a
donor) are a normal finding in all women who have had babies.
Getting back to the patient, his ejection fraction (an indication of
how well his heart is pumping) increased from 30 per cent to 55%
(normal is 50-55%). That was 2.5 years ago and this gentleman is now a
good friend and continues to do well. We wrote a paper about this
gentleman's case, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal in
England. We have completed treatment on 8 patients with heart failure and 7 out of the 8 have had clinical improvement and 4 of the 7 have had demonstrative objective evidence of improvement of heart function. I have not seen any major side effects with this treatment.
Dr. Fabio Solano responds?
Ms. Perotin, (reporter)
Thank you for your interest in our medical practice.
I am an M.D. surgeon with 38 years of medical experience and 2.5 years
experience using stem cells. Up front I would like to say that I do
not make any promises of results to patients. All patients are
treated under informed consent on a patient/doctor relationship. In
this country I can treat a patient with stem cells if I think they
could benefit from the treatment and they are aware of the fact that
we do not know if the will receive any benefit and that there are
risks associated with the treatment. I only accept patients who I
think have a good risk to benefit ratio. Over 70 percent of the
patients who apply for treatment are rejected based on this.
I use only ethical, adult stem cells to treat my patients. Many
procedures use the patients' own bone marrow or fat stem cells. To
harvest the bone marrow we use standard bone marrow isolation. To
harvest fat we use standard liposuction techniques. We also use cells
from umbilical cord blood and matrix from healthy, live births, with
consent from the mother.
To use a patient example I treated 1.5 years ago a 38 y.o. man with
chronic kidney failure. The kidney failure was due to having
Diabetes type I. His medical options were to soon start on dialysis
and then look for a kidney transplant. He called me and I agreed to
treat him under informed consent. We isolated some bone marrow from
his iliac crests (hip bones) and processed it to isolate the stem
cells. Then, using catheterization under fluoroscopy we placed the
stem cells into the arteries feeding his kidneys. His kidney function
began to improve within weeks.
The side effects are associated with the bone marrow aspiration and
catheterization. We have had one patient bleed after the catheter,
but this was self-limited. All patients have either stabilized or had
improved kidney function. In all fairness I do not accept patients
with kidney failure so severe they are on dialysis already, so there
may be selection for patients who have a better chance.
To use another example, a 49 y.o. doctor from Texas came to visit us.
He had heart failure. He was on all of the medications his
cardiologist had at his disposal and his heart continued to fail. For
this gentleman I injected him with umbilical cord CD34+ cells and
umbilical cord matrix mesenchymal cells. CD34+ cells are in clinical
trials in the U.S. for the treatment of heart failure and mesenchymal
cells are in clinical trials there for people after they've had a
heart attack (Osiris.com). Just to address your safety issue question
here?all of the cells I use are tested and certified by independent
laboratories for infectious disease and sterility. For your
edification, umbilical cord stem cells (the entire cord blood) have
been used in hundreds of patients without side effects and the results
have been published in world-renowned journals such as the Lancet.
Our team wrote a paper about using umbilical cord cells for
regenerative medicine that was also published in a peer-reviewed
journal?a copy is attached.1 An interesting side note is that note is
that all mothers have some of the stem cells from their babies in
their bone and bone marrow up to 30 years after birth. These are
cells that are at least 50% genetically distinct from the mother. This
fact gives me even more peace about the safety of what I am doing than
the umbilical cord transplants?microchimerism (a few cells from a
donor) are a normal finding in all women who have had babies.
Getting back to the patient, his ejection fraction (an indication of
how well his heart is pumping) increased from 30 per cent to 55%
(normal is 50-55%). That was 2.5 years ago and this gentleman is now a
good friend and continues to do well. We wrote a paper about this
gentleman's case, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal in
England. We have completed treatment on 8 patients with heart failure and 7 out of the 8 have had clinical improvement and 4 of the 7 have had demonstrative objective evidence of improvement of heart function. I have not seen any major side effects with this treatment.