'No proof' of benefit to children

Stem-cell treatment is "highly experimental", with "potential hazards", the Paediatric Society of New Zealand warns.

The Press reported yesterday that a Christchurch family hoped to raise up to $80,000 to send two disabled children to Mexico for stem-cell transplants.

However, society president Rosemary Marks said the therapy was "highly experimental", with no controlled studies to back claims of dramatic improvements. Her advice to parents is "don't go there".

A society information pamphlet on stem-cell treatment was being finalised for release on the kidshealth website. A draft had been sent to doctors.

It said the stem-cell operation carried risks of introducing viral diseases or bacterial infections, and even malignant tumours developing after the transplant.

"Our advice is that stem-cell treatment for children with cerebral palsy is unproven and has potential hazards. Therefore, we do not recommend it," it said.

The treatment for cerebral palsy involved injecting adult stem cells into the bloodstream or an area around the spinal cord.

In theory, these would develop into nerve cells that would take over the function of damaged areas of the brain.

"Most centres offering this treatment also follow the treatment with intensive physical-therapy programmes," the pamphlet said. "It is very difficult to know whether improvements are the result of the stem-cell treatment itself, or the intensive physical therapy, or are the result of the child growing and developing."

A Levin family travelled to Mexico this month, seeking stem-cell treatment for their eight-year-old daughter who has cerebral palsy. A Hamilton family are also trying to raise money for the trip.

A North Island girl, Maia Friedlander, had therapy as part of a clinical trial being conducted at Duke University in the United States in which her cord blood which had been stored at birth was injected into her.

Maia had suffered brain damage at birth. Her family have reported major improvements, such as talking and balance.

Christchurch School of Medicine researcher and paediatric oncologist Michael Sullivan wrote a review of cord-blood storage for Nature magazine last year. While the benefits of using cord blood to treat cancer had been proven, there was "no evidence" that using your own cord blood had benefits, he said.

An Auckland company, Cordbank, stores cord blood for about $5000.

Sullivan said families were being exploited by a stem-cell industry that was "nothing more than alternative therapy masquerading as genuine medicine".

While the possibilities for stem-cell treatments were huge, they were still some years away, he said.

Cerebral Palsy Society general manager Harvey Brunt said there had been an upsurge in interest in stem-cell transplants.

The society was waiting for scientific evidence proving the benefits of the treatment before considering funding trips to Mexico, he said.