Details Published on Wednesday, 09 January 2013 23:00 Written by GERARD NAVAL

The Philippine Society for Stem Cell Medicine (PSSCM) yesterday warned the public that stem cell treatment, an emerging medical procedure, poses risks that could be fatal.

Dr. Leo Olarte, PSSCM spokesman, said stem cell treatment has been found to carry a whole range of risky complications with some being fatal.

He said these include graft-versus-host disease (allogeneic transplant only), stem cell (graft) failure, organ injury, infections, cataracts, infertility, new cancers, and death.

In particular, Olarte explained that the graft-versus-host disease can occur soon immediately after the transplant or months to years later.

This condition occurs when a donors transplanted stem cells attack your body, said Olarte.

He said it may arise from factors such as the type of blood disorder, the type of transplant, and the age and health of the person.

Olarte also noted that graft-versus-host disease can affect any organ, but is commonly seen in the skin (rash, often like sunburn), gut (mouth sores, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting), liver (jaundice or yellowing of the skin), lungs (blocked airways) or eyes (irritation and light sensitivity).

Last October, the Department of Health (DOH) issued an advisory saying stem cell therapy is a procedure that is not yet an adopted standard way of treatment and remains under clinical evaluation.

Stem cell therapy is a type of intervention strategy that introduces new adult stem cells into damaged tissue in order to treat disease or injury.

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