Dose of Realify

摘要

Stem cells may be the key to a bright, shiny future of cure-all medicine. But we're not there yet. Biologists are still sorting out the basics of how to turn stem cells into regenerative therapies. Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped dozens of foreign clinics from offering stem cell treatments-without much of a fight from regulators or the scientific community-to any desperate patient who feels that mainstream medicine has failed them. According to Timothy Caulfield, a University of Alberta law professor, the facilities charge an average of $21,500 for these experimental "cures," and there are incalculable risks associated with them. (Israeli scientists report that a child developed a brain tumor as a result of a stem cell treatment for a rare degenerative disease.) Here are some conditions for which overseas clinics offer dubious solutions.