Halifax Neural Transplantation Program The Halifax Fetal Transplantation Program is the only Program of its kind in Canada and has been in the forefront of neural transplantation research in the country. Phase I of the Fetal Transplantation Program in Halifax was approved four and a half years ago after exhaustive ethical review. Several committees assessed the scientific merit of the proposal. Both the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University and the Victoria General Hospital committees consulted with leading ethical and scientific experts across the country and around the world before arriving at their decision. Phase I involved the implantation of fetal neural cells into the striatum of five Parkinson's disease patients and then monitoring their progress. The procedure was found to be safe, there was neither mortality nor serious complications. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans showed evidence of continuing flurodopa uptake, indicating that dopaminergic neurons did indeed survive transplantation and continued to mature and function. Clinical function exhibited a steady trend of deterioration during the 6 months prior to the operations, this trend persisted for about two months into the post-operative period. This was followed by a trend towards a lessening of the severity of symptoms, i.e., slowing down of the previous rate of deterioration. Phase II of the clinical trial is currently underway and will last approximately 3 years. Halifax Neural Transplantation Patient Registry We have set up a registry of Parkinson's patients at the Victoria General Hospital. We will enter patients who contact us and send any news that is released on the program. To refer patients please write to the Halifax Neural Transplantation Program Coordinator at: QE II Health Sciences Centre Victoria General Hospital Site Bethune Building, Room 404 1278 Tower Rd. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 2Y9 Fax: 902-428-3343 E-mail: [log in to unmask] PROGRAM COORDINATOR Tanya Acorn, B.Sc., M.Sc. John Cottingham "The parkinsn list brings Knowledge, Comfort, Hope, and Homeboy Friendship to the parkinsonian world." LibraryH Parkinson's Chat on the Undernet 8:30 PM CST -6 Daily. If you access the Internet through a provider with a [log in to unmask] PPP/SLIP account, free IRC chat software is available. WFD