
medical illustration of the function of stem cells in the human body
What should I be cautious about if I am considering a stem cell therapy?
The source of the cells or how the treatment will be done is not clearly documented:
This should be clearly explained to you in a treatment consent form. In addition, there should be a “protocol” that outlines the treatment in detail to the medical practitioner. The protocol is the “operating manual” for the procedure. While it may not be made available to you automatically, you should be able to request this. For a clinical trial or experimental treatment, protocols should have been reviewed for scientific merit by independent experts and approved by an ethics committee to ensure that the rights and well-being of the participants will be respected. Ask who has approved this protocol and when the approval expires.