Stem cell therapy

from Eve A  back in your thread in introduction

"I am a medical scientist by training and work in Pharma on clinical trials etc. I would strongly advise that you do not go down this route. As yet there is no high-quality evidence for any stem-cell therapy in autism. There is also not, to my knowledge from what's known about the underlying basis of autism and its manifestations (although still limited), any reasonable mechanism by which 'stem cells' could even make a difference. Stem cells are basically human cells that have not yet been 'programmed' to form any particular body tissue, like muscle, nerve, or liver cells. So while some very early-stage studies have shown they might be useful in regenerating damaged tissue, like after a heart attack or injury to the spinal cord, there's no 'injury' or 'lack' of cells in autism that they could potentially treat.  It's a bit like when electricity was first discovered by the Victorians, they were using it as 'cures' for anything and everything.

There have been a few very limited trials in very small numbers of patients, mostly by the guy in the video posted who has a commercial interest in the treatment, with very variable outcomes, and mostly uncontrolled - that means there was no group who *didn't* receive the treatment to compare it to, so it's not clear whether any improvements seen would have happened anyway as the child developed. Suggestions of a potential benefit through anti-inflammatory or cell signalling molecules could be worth investigating but could likely be achieved without using cell-based therapies, and again would need further strong evidence from clinical trials. There were also safety issues in some patients including seizures.

So in my view, although larger and better designed trials may refine this approach, stem cell therapy in its current form is not a magic bullet; at best you would be wasting your money; at worst you could be risking your child's health - little is known about the long term side effects of stem cell treatments, and as they are potent, rapidly dividing cells there is a potential risk of certain cancers. Add to that the invasive and painful nature of the treatment itself. Your child would be best served by following evidence-based approaches to supporting development of autistic children. I hope this is helpful, please feel free to ask me any more questions. 

Edited to add: I have Asperger's and I have a five year old son who so far does not appear to show signs of ASD. I understand how difficult it must be and how desparately you must want to help - I was not diagnosed until later, and had a lot of problems as a result. However, even if my son was autistic I personally would not go down the route of any therapy with as little clinical evidence as this treatment has. "

i agree with Blue it seems to be desperate parents trying to help their kids which i fully understand, it is worth investigating.   If it is a cure why isnt it on the NHS ?    -----  its too good to be true  

Sorry to inform but that videos you have been watching is anti autism propaganda and the child/children in those videos didn't have just autism spectrum disorder they all had mild forms of brain damage that gave them intellectual disability.

The majority of the children in those videos were falsely diagnosed with autism in the first place and one of the children after the therapy still had clear symptoms atypical autism.

As a autistic adult who has been physically assaulted by their parents lack of educational understanding of autism when i was a child and the way i have been harmed by the arrogant people who raised me and the physical damage that is going to continue and follow me throughout my life to have witnessed and read what you have written on this forum is absolutely disgusting.

Autism is not a disease or an illness and it cannot be cured as they is nothing wrong to be cured.