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Curt R. Freed, MD; Robert E. Breeze, MD; Neil L. Rosenberg, MD
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center 4200 E Ninth Ave, C-237 Denver, CO 80262

Arch Neurol. 1991;48(3):260-262.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.

—Freed and Poltorak raise several points about the technique and therapeutic strategy that we used for the implant of human fetal dopamine cells into the brain of a patient with Parkinson's disease. We disagree with most of their comments for the reasons listed below.

The most basic concern of Freed and Poltorak focused on our decision not to immunosuppress the patient. As we say in the article, the value of immunosuppression is one of the most important questions to be answered for fetal cell implants in man. If research in animals had shown immunosuppression to be necessary or if immunosuppression were free of complications and cost nothing to administer, then we would have immunosuppressed the patient. In fact, experiments in rats and monkeys indicate that immunosuppression may not be needed for successful fetal tissue implants in brain. Immunosuppression also carries a 1% to 10% risk of serious infection . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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