Stem Cell Treatments Flourish With Little Evidence That They Work (NYTimes)
The F.D.A. has taken an industry-friendly approach toward companies using unproven cell cocktails to treat people desperate for relief from aging or damaged joints.
A surgeon recommended a hip replacement, but Kenneth Cevoli said no thanks.
“They’re really quick to try to give you fake joints and make a bunch of money off you,” he said.
At 71, Mr. Cevoli, a high-school guidance counselor in Teterboro, N.J., coaches cross country, teaches mogul skiing, surfs and works summers as a lifeguard on Cape Cod. Despite pain in his left hip and knee, he questioned the need for major surgery, worrying it would sideline him for too long.
Instead, he tried an increasingly popular treatment, in which stem cells are extracted from a patient’s own bone marrow and injected into worn or injured joints to promote healing.
Many people have become captivated by the idea of using stem cells to fix their damaged joints, and some claim to have been helped.
But there is no clear evidence that these treatments work, and their safety has yet to be established. Most researchers, including those at the National Institutes of Health, th...
