Damaged livers have been repaired using bone marrow stem cells from patients’ own blood reported the Daily Mail (6 October 2005)(1). The newspaper article accurately reported on a news item in New Scientist about five patients who had received the treatment. Approval for further research to refine the technique is being sought.
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Damaged livers have been repaired using bone marrow stem cells extracted from the patients’ own blood reported the Daily Mail on 6 October 2005(1).The treatment involved injecting the stem cells into the blood vessels leading to the liver of the patient. The stem cells then appeared to regenerate tissue in the liver.
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The newspaper article was based on a study reported in the news section of the New Scientist (2). The researcher stated that three out of the five patients that received the treatment experienced significant improvements in liver function and general health within two months. The remaining two patients without health improvements experienced no ill effects as a result of the treatment.
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The newspaper article accurately outlined the report in New Scientist. There were however insufficient details in the New Scientist report for an assessment of the quality of the research to be carried out. The newspaper article appropriately stated that the treatment needs to be proven to work. Approval for a follow-up trial is being sought by the researchers.
Systematic reviews
Information staff at CRD searched for systematic reviews relevant to this topic. Systematic reviews are valuable sources of evidence as they locate, appraise and synthesize all available evidence on a particular topic.
There were no related systematic reviews identified on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) or on the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE).
