Hope for Crohn's Disease Patients
Reported by: Jen Markham
Email: jmarkham@13wham.
Bonnie Peters was first diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 1975.
Over the years, her symptoms became so bad she had to stop working
and severely limit her activity.
Drugs to help her with her intestinal problems didn't do much for her
other symptoms.
"Overall body arthritis, the total exhaustion, and I've been having
fevers for about two and a half years," Bonnie said.
Three weeks ago, the 66-year-old Spencerport native enrolled in a
clinical trial at Rochester General Hospital, for a new drug called
Prochymal. The drug is formulated from human stem cells, and
researchers hope it could help shut down the disease in the
gastrointestinal tract.
"This works by ideally targeting the inflammation and shutting down
the inflammation such so that inflammatory response is no longer seen
and the patient's symptoms improve with that," said Dr. Kevin Casey,
a gastroenterologist at Rochester General.
Dr. Casey said unlike other Crohn's drugs, patients can take
Prochymal without also having to take an immuno-suppressant, which
can cause complications.
The drug has so far shown positive results in early trials. Bonnie
said she has already noticed a big difference.
"The body pain is gone...the exhaustion is gone," she said. "The
fevers are not gone, but I'm able to go shopping and then go out
again in the evening if I want...it's been wonderful."
Doctors said the treatment is targeted at patients, for which no
other therapy has worked.
Rochester General is currently looking for 15 or more patients with
Crohn's Disease to enroll in the trial. For more information, you
can call the hospital at 922-5465.
http://www.13wham.
5568-4f24-8211-
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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