Kathie Tollifson raised the issue of relatively few postings about fetal or
neural transplantation on the list. Certainly pallidotomy has dominated
discussion about syrgical techniques because it has immediate and seemingly
significant and relatively enduring benefits (as my wife Moira macPherson
has experienced now ten months since her bilateral pallidotomy at Loma Linda).
I did post a message about Phase II of the Nerual Transplantation Program
which is about to get underway within the next two or three months here in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Phase II has been in preparation for the past year and
a half under the leadership of Dr. Ivar Mendez. Below is information about
the registry they have set up for the Dalhousie University/Queen Elizabeth
II Health Services Centre.
The Nova Scotia Division of the Parkinson Foundation of Canada is working
closely with Dr. Mendez and his team to assist them with fundraising and
providing services and support to the transplantation patients. The Division
home Page will contain relevant information from time to time about the
project (http://www.ccn.cs.dal.ca/Health/NSPF/nsd-pfc.html).
Best regards to all,
Peter
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The URL for the Dalhousie Neural Transplantation Home Page is:
http://www.mcms.dal.ca/dnts/neurotr.html
Division of Neurosurgery - Neurotransplant
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:
PROGRAM COORDINATOR: Tanya Acorn, B.Sc., M.Sc.
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]
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Peter J. Kidd
Learning Materials Consulting Services
62 Coronation Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3N 2M6, CANADA
Phone & Fax: (902) 443-4262
Email: [log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
http://www.cfn.cs.dal.ca/~aa163/peterkidd.html
[C]; Moira [P] 56, 17
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