International Medical Association Publishes Guidelines For Tracking Adult Stem Cell Treatment Safety

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb 03, 2010 -
The International Cellular Medicine Society (“ICMS”), a   physician guided nonprofit organization for the advancement of adult stem therapy announced the publication of a landmark guideline for the tracking clinical results and complications of using the patient's own stem cells for therapy. While physicians from all over the world have engaged in treatments using autologous, adult stem cell concentrates for many years, there has been no standard for patient follow up and outcomes tracking. This lack of standard best practices has made it impossible for patients or physicians to compare treatments and judge safety. In addition, safety studies are only now being published for more advanced stem cell therapies.  With this publication, the ICMS has defined the methodology for outcomes tracking for stem cell treatments, and added a critical component to its physician authored and reviewed guidelines to help physicians collect, culture and re-implant a patient’s own  adult stem cells.

"In addition to the Lab Practice and Clinical Guidelines, these new guidelines will create a first of its kind adult stem cell treatment registry, where patients from around the world who are getting stem cell treatments will be tracked by a third party non-profit concerning efficacy and possible complications." stated Christopher J. Centeno, MD. This Re-Implantation Registry is the most ambitious project to date for the ICMS. This registry provides complications tracking and follow up for patients worldwide who have received autologous adult stem cell therapies. Patient and physicians will be able to access the registry and compare treatment and procedures to help make an informed health care decision.

“We feel the combination of these scientifically based guidelines,” said Ricardo Rodriquez, MD, chair of the Re-Implantation Registry Advisory Board, “and a network of clinicians who follow them will result in the open sharing of results with colleagues and patients. This is the new model for the advancement of autologous adult stem cell therapy.” Participation in the Re-Implantation Registry will be limited to stem cell clinics that are accredited by the ICMS. Interest, however, has been global with clinics in the US, China, Mexico and Latin America seeking to have their procedures and data entered into the Registry.

“ICMS will be an automatic and essential peer review of all the treatments,” said Tamara Jorquiera, MD, advisory board member, “The registry will give us the opportunity to bring together the statistics of all physicians using adult stem cells and show the whole world what we already know; adult stem cells are safe and effective.”