Indian doctor condemned over miracle cure claims.Byline: ANI London, Nov 7 (ANI): A Indian doctor has come under fire over claims of treating incurable incurable /in·cur·a·ble/ (in-kur´ah-b'l) 1. not susceptible of being cured. 2. a person with a disease which cannot be cured. in·cur·a·ble adj. or terminal illnesses using embryonic stem cells Embryonic stem cells (ES cells) are stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of an early stage embryo known as a blastocyst. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4-5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50-150 cells. ES cells are pluripotent. without any safety trials and randomised Adj. 1. randomised - set up or distributed in a deliberately random way randomized irregular - contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice; "irregular hiring practices" clinical studies. Delhi-based doc Dr. Geeta Shroff n. 1. A banker, or changer of money. is charging as much as 30,000 pounds for a single course of treatment. And medical researchers are deeply sceptical of her claims, and brand many rogue stem-cell physicians dangerous quacks offering expensive, unproven and potentially dangerous treatments that are banned in Britain. However, some of Shroff's patients insist that they are getting better. Shroff said that she has already treated 700 people, including several Britons, since 2002, by injecting them with embryonic stem cells capable of replicating themselves and of giving rise to almost any specialised cell type. She claims that all the cells she uses are derived from a single unwanted embryo left over from an IVF IVF in vitro fertilization. IVF abbr. in vitro fertilization IVF 1 In vitro fertilization, see there 2. Intravascular fluid treatment and the results, she says, have been remarkable. "Almost all of my patients have shown improvement," Times Online quoted her as saying. She claims there have been cases in which paraplegics have regained the use of limbs and of patients with Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease or Parkinsonism, degenerative brain disorder first described by the English surgeon James Parkinson in 1817. When there is no known cause, the disease usually appears after age 40 and is referred to as Parkinson's disease. and multiple sclerosis whose physical degeneration has been halted. However, she said: "It's not a miracle, it's science. Theoretically, it can treat all of mankind." Shroff has refused to publish her research and to submit it to peer review - a practise regarded widely as a cornerstone of good science. Instead, she has patented her technique, a route more familiar in business than medicine. Doctors say that without safety trials and randomised clinical studies, her treatments are unverifiable and potentially dangerous. And there has been no research published, for instance, to rule out placebo effects. "If somebody spends thousands of pounds, it's pretty hard to convince them it's not money well spent," said Anthony Mathur, a cardiologist at the London Chest Hospital working on stem-cell research Noun 1. stem-cell research - research on stem cells and their use in medicine biological research - scientific research conducted by biologists embryonic stem-cell research - biological research on stem cells derived from embryos and on their use in medicine . "If her claims are true, they will revolutionise medicine. I find them hard to believe, but am prepared to keep an open mind. What is harder to explain is why so little important information about them is being shared with the medical community. It's wrong to give out hope and no facts," he added. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion