 |
 |
Merry Christmas Bob, I share your concern re: credibility of Dr. Dinesh Garg... cheers .... murray * * * Dec. 24th. 2003 Since I gathered this information several months ago; Biomark International have quietly removed all mention of Dr. Garg's credentials from their website along with his position there as "Chairman of BioMark's Scientific Advisory Board". Who and what is Biomark?? I'm not sure at all, but they do have toll free phone numbers... murray * * * August, 2003 Dr. Garg?? sounds familiar....... search PARKINSN LIST... AHHHHHHHHH........ Reported by yours truly... in May of 2001 on the PARKINSN LIST... * * * Times of India - Friday 25 May 2001 Doctor claims breakthrough in tackling Parkinson's By Huned Contractor WHEN Sunil Gundia, suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease, approached neurosurgeon Dr Dinesh Garg, it was with little hope of any miraculous recovery. All forms of medication had been attempted. Second and third opinions held out no new pointers for a cure in the offing. And it was almost with a sense of resignation that Gundia consented to a definitive treatment modality for the disease. Imagine the happiness when he found himself almost born again, after a unique transplant carried out by Dr Garg. This involved the modification of umbilical cord blood cells into brain cells and replacing the degenerated and damaged nerve cells in the brain stem of Gundia. "The recovery has been 100 per cent and Gundia is now capable of all physical movements which had been earlier hindered due to Parkinson's disease," claims the city-based Dr Garg. It may be a path-breaking discovery and Dr Garg is all set to present a research and case study paper on the same. "This is the first time that cells have been taken from the umbilical cord of a new born child and transplanted with success into the brain. That apart, I have also devised an ingenious method of cooling only the brain and spinal cord by using the cerebrospinal fluid which bathes the central nervous system. This enables the transplanted cells to take residence with the native cells and the rejection rate is therefore reduced," explains Dr Garg, who has done his post-graduation medical studies in the United States of America and has also obtained a Ph.D. in neurosurgical pathology. World-wide, Parkinson's disease continues to be a challenge in terms of established treatment methods. "Mostly, patients are treated with stimulation techniques using electrodes in the hope that the living cells surrounding the damaged or dead cells in the brain may be activated to a degree upwards of normal so that they may kick-start the other cells. While this method does yield positive results for a period of two to three months, it cannot be said to have any permanent benefits. In fact, I would go so far as to say that patients are being fooled by the use of this technique," states Dr Garg. In that sense, full-fledged success lies in the replacement of the dead and damaged cells, which Dr Garg has proved that can be done. In this particular case, the patient was referred to him by Dr Jasbir Kathpal of Chothiram Hospital, Indore. After obtaining his informed consent, Gundia was admitted to Ruby Hall Clinic by Dr Dilip Kiyawat of Jehangir Hospital. Next, Dr Garg recovered a portion of the umbilical cord blood after a baby's delivery and separated the stem cells at Sassoon Hospital. These cells were modified into brains cells in a tissue culture facility provided by Dr Avinash Phadnis at the Shree Clinic, following which they were transplanted after conducting the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) stereotactic localisation of the implantation site in the brain stem. In view of all the parameters involved, the treatment costs an approximate Rs 2 lakh which, Dr Garg informs, is due to the high cost of transforming the brain cells and the cooling process apart from incidentals like MRI and the anti-rejection drugs required. "What I have devised is a concrete mode of treatment. Elsewhere, neurosurgeons are still grappling with the trial and error methods," says Dr Garg, hoping that the world will take note of this innovative surgery and give a new direction to the researchers. [log in to unmask] http://www.timesofindia.com/today/25mpun6.htm ************ http://parkinsn.coles.org.uk/Parkinsons/PARKINSNLog.nsf/ByKey/8C15BFC54221BA06 and was posted to Parkinson's Plus by Pam Bower ... http://pub50.ezboard.com/fopcafrm1.showMessage?topicID=10.topic * * * The Parkinson's "cure" in India (Scroll way down to the bottom... murray) http://www.parentsguidecordblood.com/research.html 19. Are there charlatans claiming phony cures with cord blood? Answer: YES Examples: The Parkinson's "cure" in India Dr. Dinesh Garg achieved reknown in the United States by founding a private cord blood bank, LifeCord USA, which turned out to be a mailing address with no lab. (No relation to other banks named "Lifecord" in Gainesville, FL, Graz, Austria, and Korea.) After that scam was exposed, he fled the country for India, where the Times of India reported that Dr. Garg has "cured" Parkinson's p atients with cord blood transplants. The report claims that brain cells "derived by modification of discarded umbilical cord blood stem cells" were infused into the cerebrospinal fluid while cooling the brain and spinal cord. The Indian news reports have been repeated uncritically by the American media. http://www.parentsguidecordblood.com/research.html * * * Umbilical Stem Cells Dinesh Garg, M.D., Ph.D. [log in to unmask] On Saturday, May 5, 2001, a 20 year-old patient, Mr. Sunil Gundia suffering from PD for the last 5 years underwent stereotactic transplantation of brain cells (derived from human umbilical cord blood stem cells) into substantia nigra of midbrain, bilaterally in a transfrontal approach, using a specially designed reverse piston syringe, under local anesthesia, here in Poona, India. To minimize neuronal metabolic demand and to facilitate "residency" of the transplanted functional cells, the surgeon devised a method of cooling only the brain and spinal cord at 10C, without cooling the systemic circulation. All done under local anesthesia and well tolerated by the patient. Post-operatively, the implantation site (pars compacta of substantia nigra) is replete with cells at exactly the marked location. Neurologically, patient shows no resting tremors, no rigidity, no shuffling gait, no monotonous speech, no drooling and no mask-like face features. This early response may be due to the transfrontal trajectory to substantia nigra; and may therefore allow the transplanted cells to effect interneuronal connections and neurotransmitter secretion. The above appeared in Times of India (May 25, 2001) Dinesh Garg, M.D., Ph.D. (New York) Thank you for your interest. There are pre- and post-op video, showing classic PD pre-op, confirmed by 3 neurologists; and normal movements in the post-op (now 31 days), without requiring any anti-PD meds. lso, a pre- and post-op MRI, locates and confirms substantia nigra and cellular deposits on both sides. D. Garg, M.D., Ph.D. http://www.parkinson.org/umbilstemcells.htm * * * Medico advocates new method to treat Parkinson’s disease The Times of India HUNED CONTRACTOR TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 11:29:41 PM ] STEM cell is the medicine of the future. It is with this belief that city-based neurosurgeon, Dr Dinesh Garg, has broken new ground in the treatment of the debilitating Parkinson’s disease. Since a report published in the Pune Times a few months ago, Dr Garg has performed successful surgeries on patients from Mumbai, Pune and California and is now planning to establish an autonomous brain centre with operating rooms. “This will be primarily for brain cell transplants in degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, pancreatic cell transplants derived from umbilical cord blood stem cells for diabetes, bone marrow transplants and Thalassemia,” he informs. However, even as Dr Garg makes headway in this new technology, his chief concern is to make people aware of why deep brain stimulation (DBS) offers no long-term hope or cure. “At present, patients are told only of DBS by electrodes without ever offering them the brain cell transplantation alternative. This is because of the promotional push by the company which makes the electrodes. Furthermore, neurosurgeons are not too keen to learn stem cell surgery,” complains Dr Garg. Providing a medical explanation of Parkinson’s disease and the therapy involved, Dr Garg says that the technique of overstimulation as practised through DBS is “merely a gimmick”, because the progressive loss of nerve cells is in the ‘nigral’ part of the mid-brain and not in the ‘pallidus’ or ‘thalamus’, as is made out to be. He uses stem cells derived from the discarded umbilical co rd blood, which is collected after a baby is delivered. These cells are transplanted in the nigral part of the brain on both sides, while cooling the brain and the spinal cord uniformly at 10 degrees Celsius with cerebrospinal fluid. “There are no side-effects,” he claims. Dr Garg, who is an American citizen, believes that he is “five years ahead of time” in the field of neurosurgery. Born and educated in New Delhi, he left India in 1969 and completed his medical studies in the United States of America, where he earned his health-care administration credits at the Cornell University. The cell transplant technology, as used by Dr Garg, requires five days of hospitalisation and the cost of surgery, stem cell processing, brain cell culture and brain cooling, might cost up to Rs 2 lakh. Says Dr Garg, “A post-operative MRI of the brain has proved the surgery to be most effective. Neurologically, patients have shown no signs of resting tremors, rigidity, shuffling gait, monotonous speech, drooling or mask-like face features. It is the need of the hour for every neurosurgeon to consider this possibility for Parkinson’s disease victims.” [log in to unmask] SOURCE: The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=343322651 * * * Indian Doc's Breakthrough Cure for Parkinson's Disease June 07, 2002 PUNE, India (News Bureau) In a major breakthrough for curing Parkinson's disease, umbilical cord blood stem cells were modified to successfully replace the degenerated and damaged nerve cells in a patient's brain stem. Faced with no better alternative, the patient Sunil Gundia had consented to a definitive treatment modality for the disease, in the hands of Dr. Dinesh Garg, Founder of LifeCord, USA. The successful replacement of afflicted brain cells is now seen as the "first and final" curative method for patients with Parkinson's disease, Ejourno.com reports said. The success is expected to encourage other patients to consider stereotactic transplant as a definite cure, instead of medications that reduce disability without permanent relief from the disease. Dr. Garg has also devised an ingenious method of cooling only the brain and spinal cord - by using the cerebrospinal fluid which bathes the Central Nervous System (CNS) in a closed loop, without intervening the systemic circulation. The CNS-cooling minimises the metabolic demand of native brain cells, thereby enabling the transplanted cells to "take residence" along with the native cells. Since these brain cells are derived by modification of discarded umbilical cord blood stem cells (collected after delivery), the use of such functional cells poses little ethical threat. And since the cells are modified in a tissue-culture environment, the concern to matching and/or rejection of these medically immune cells is minimised. Furthermore, the use of low-dose immunosuppressive agents enables these cells to be available for a vast number of patients throughout the world. The new brilliant concept of brain cooling to effect multiple brain disorders such as spinal cord trauma, epilepsy, including psychoses; and in brain cell transplantation for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimers, (perhaps, even Lou Gehrigs), will revolutionise neurosurgery, neurology and psychiatry. Garg had recovered umbilical cord blood after a delivery, and separated the stem cells at Sassoon Hospital. Next, he modified the stem cells into brain cells in a tissue-culture facility provided by Dr. Avinash Phadnis at the Shree Clinic. The cooling of the Central Nervous System was devised by Dr. Garg using a peristaltic flow pump in a closed circuit loop under local anesthesia. http://tinyurl.com/r4ry http://biomark-intl.com/media/publications/02_Park.pdf * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn