-continued from part3-
 
>
>
>
> Despite successes with the surgery, many questions
> remain.  Surgeons are not in agreement on the best
> sites to implant the fetal cells within the brain or on
> how much tissue to use for optimum results.  Some
> researchers question whether the fetal cells provide
> any benefit at all, arguing that the operation itself
> may stimulate the regeneration of dying cells,
> whether fetal tissues are implanted or not.
> To address these questions, NIH earlier this month
> awarded a $45-million grant to Freed and his
> Colorado colleagues to conduct a controlled clinical
> trial of fetal tissue transplants.  For the first time,
> some patients with receive sham operations--
> identical to the fetal tissue implant, but with saline
> solution injected rather than fetal cells--so that
> researchers can determine the effects of the surgery
> itself.
> The team will also graft fetal tissue at different sites
> in the brain to learn which location works best.
> Freed believes that the study will provide a
> blueprint for a uniform, effective way to conduct
> the surgery.
> But NIH is unlikely to award any other grants in the
> near future, researchers say--a situation that is
> slowing the use of the procedure.  To get around
> the money shortfall, some researchers, such as the
> Good Samaritan team, are having patients pay for
> the surgery themselves, a process that  many
> physicians consider dubious and some consider
> unethical.
> Patients are not normally charged for experimental
> procedures or drugs; the costs are borne by the
> government or the company that developed the
> drug or treatment.  Ethicists fear that charging
> patients biases the results of such trials because
> subjects are selected based on their ability to pay
> rather than on the appropriateness of the procedure
> of the likelihood that they will benefit from it.
> "There are major methodological questions that can
> only be worked out in a research context [Like
> Freed's new study]," Redmond said.
> Despite the promise of fetal tissue grafts, some
> researchers, such as Dr. Charles Markham of
> UCLA, see it "more as a pointer to even better
> techniques in the future."  Ultimately, they envision
> the development of genetically engineered cells that
> can be grown in large quantities in the laboratory
> and programmed to produce not only larger
> quantities of dopamine, but also growth factors that
> might stimulate the repair of damaged brain cells.
> Several research teams are developing such cells,
> but their first use in humans is probably at least two
> years off.
> Researchers are setting their sights on other
> diseases as well.  Madrazo has performed fetal
> tissue implants on two Huntington's patients.  The
> surgery has not reversed the disease's symptoms,
> he said, but it has significantly slowed the
> progression on the disorder in both cases.
> European researchers are also very close to fetal
> tissue grafts to treat Alzheimer's disease, possibly
> within the next couple of months.  The widespread
> adoption of fetal tissue transplants for other
> diseases could change the face of neurosurgery,
> experts agree.
> But for patients such as Wenc, the future has
> arrived. "I have a new lease on life," she said.
>
>
>
 
-finished, end of article-
 
If any parts came out with incomplete sentences
or overwriting, please let me know.
 
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Heidi Hasemann