Fresh cell therapy
The fresh cell therapy (syn. Cellular therapy or organo-therapy ) is a controversial complementary medical method for increasing the body's own immune defense and is partially within the framework of anti-aging used therapies. It was introduced in 1931 by the Geneva doctor and sanatorium director Paul Niehans (1882–1971). This method has lost a lot of its importance in recent years. It is banned in almost every country in the world.
Procedure
In this therapy, a suspension of cells from fetal (unborn) or juvenile (young) calves or lambs is injected, i.e. substances obtained from animal fetuses . Variants are suspensions of dried or frozen extracts.
application areas
The therapy was relatively widespread in Europe until the 1980s; In Germany , celebrities such as Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer , national football coach Helmut Schön , Fritz Walter or the actor Willy Millowitsch also sought treatment.
The method was and is offered against chronic diseases of all kinds, against age-related complaints and against cancer. In 2000, around ten sanatoriums in Germany offered this therapy. At that time, a one-week cure cost up to 10,000 marks. The hoped-for effect: The young cells are supposed to replace old cells in the human body and, so to speak, take over repair work.
Today, fresh cell therapy is of little importance in alternative medicine.
Risks
Like any foreign tissue, fetal bovine or sheep cells can cause severe allergic reactions up to allergic shock with cardiac arrest . There is no scientific proof of the effectiveness of the therapy. The evidence-based medicine rejects the cell therapy therefore on principle.
Doctors refer to the preparations used as risk material , with which there is a risk of diseases in an animal being transmitted to humans, for example BSE , rabies or Q fever . The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning to this effect. Further risks arise from the possible occurrence of autoimmune diseases .
Risk-benefit ratio
After a few deaths associated with fresh cell therapy, the manufacture and sale of fresh cells in Germany were banned in 1997 by the then Federal Minister of Health Horst Seehofer , on the grounds that the effectiveness of the preparations had not been proven and that their use was questionable; they are drugs. The Federal Constitutional Court lifted the ban in 2000 on the grounds that the handling of fresh cells that are produced and injected directly in the respective clinics does not constitute “placing on the market” and is therefore not to be regulated by the Medicines Act . The federal government is not responsible, but rather the administration of fresh cells as part of a therapy or cure is subject to supervision by the federal states. The judges did not comment on possible health risks.
The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) and the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) come to the conclusion in two reports 2015/2016 that even fresh cells and organ extracts that are not officially approved as medicinal products have a negative risk-benefit And should be classified as questionable within the meaning of Section 5 AMG ( Medicines Act ). The Medicines Act not only prohibits the placing on the market of questionable medicinal products, but since 2009 also prohibits their use on another person.
In 2015, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) took action against providers of illegal fresh cell therapies. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against several clinics. The aim of the intervention is to "prevent the illegal manufacture and use of preparations for fresh cell therapy in Switzerland". The effectiveness of fresh cell therapy has not been scientifically proven and the lack of therapeutic benefit is offset by considerable health risks, explained the BAG.
Web links
- Christina Berndt: Mecca for fresh cells. Sheep cell rejuvenation treatments are considered quite dangerous around the world. But hardly anyone in Germany cares. The bizarre treatment is experiencing a renaissance. Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 27, 2015, archived from the original on January 29, 2018 .
- 50 years ago: Paul Niehans brought the term “cellular therapy” to the public (PDF file; 149 kB), E. Wolff, Schweizerische Ärztezeitung, 2002; 83: No. 32/33, accessed June 8, 2012
Individual evidence
- ^ Christian Baars: Fresh Cell Therapies. Spahn wants to ban risky cures. tagesschau.de, November 9, 2018
- ↑ Fresh cell therapy / cellular therapy , miomedi Chirurgie, accessed June 8, 2012
- ↑ Federal Constitutional Court: Prohibition of fresh cell therapy inadmissible ( memento of the original from December 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Medi-Report February 16, 2000.
- ↑ Abridged version of the reports of the PEI and BfArM on the parenteral use of fresh cells and xenogenic organ extracts in humans, August 2016.
- ↑ swissmedic: The federal government and the cantons are taking action against providers of inadmissible fresh cell therapies. ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , March 26, 2015.
