People with multiple sclerosis sometimes become desperate and will travel to other countries for experimental stem cell treatments. That’s not always a good idea.
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Faced with an incurable condition, people with multiple sclerosis will sometimes seek risky alternative treatments as their disabilities increase.
One of these experimental treatments is Hematopoietic Stem Cell Therapy (HSCT). And it comes with a high price.
HSCT involves extracting white blood cells from the bone marrow of the person with multiple sclerosis (MS). These cells are treated with chemotherapy to make them, in essence, forget they have MS.
Then, they’re reinfused back into the person in hopes of slowing down disease progression. HSCT has been studied and shows promise, but it’s not yet approved as a therapy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
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