Copyright 2004 Scripps Howard, Inc.  
Scripps Howard News Service
December 6, 2004, Monday 12:21 PM Eastern Time
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
LENGTH: 749 words
SOURCE: Toronto Globe and Mail
BYLINE: GEOFFREY YORK
SATELINE: BEIJING

He's been called a miracle worker. He's been called a snake-oil salesman. Regardless of which description is true, China's most controversial surgeon has a waiting list of hundreds of patients from Texas to Toronto who are willing to pay $20,000 for his treatment.

Huang Hongyun, a mild-mannered 48-year-old doctor, gives hope to thousands of paralyzed or degenerating patients around the world. His results are often lauded as miraculous. His surgery schedule is booked for the next 12 months, with more than 1,000 patients eagerly awaiting their chance to fly to Beijing for his treatment.

Yet the world's top medical journals won't publish his studies. Many Western neurologists have criticized his techniques. And he is unwilling to submit to a randomized trial of his methods.

"I've sent papers to more than five journals, but they are always rejected," Huang says indignantly. "I'm angry about this. I believe it is unfair for editors to do this. If I was American, they would publish it. But I am Chinese, so they don't publish it."

One of the most controversial aspects of his surgery is the source of the cells he injects into the spines and brains of his patients. They are taken from four-month-old human fetuses - among the millions aborted every year in China. In each operation, the patient is injected with at least a million cells harvested from olfactory bulbs inside the noses of the fetuses.

It is an experimental technique that many other countries, including Canada and the United States, have rejected or restricted. Even Huang says he is unsure how exactly it works, although he believes the injected cells can somehow activate other dormant cells and stimulate changes in the nervous system.

His patients, however, are so desperate for treatment that they are willing to endure the wrath of their neurologists, the expensive trip to China, and the risks and costs of an unproven procedure.

"It's my last hope," says Richard McDonald, a 57-year-old computer operator in Vancouver, British Columbia, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the chronic wasting condition known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

McDonald, who walks with a cane, is in the early stages of a disease that can get much worse. "There isn't any cure, there isn't even anything to slow the progression," he says. "There's nothing else out there. So we're desperate. I don't have a hell of a lot to lose."

He has made an appointment to travel to Beijing next June to receive a cell injection from Huang. But he admits he's hesitant. "There's so much unknown about it," he says. "I'm going crazy. Should I do it?"

More than 500 patients have received the surgery, and many say their condition has clearly improved. Web sites are filled with testimonials from patients, some of whom report dramatic improvements in their ability to walk and move. Many are furious at the medical establishment for opposing Huang's methods.

Mike Kowalski, a 30-year-old Toronto paraplegic who traveled to Beijing a year ago for treatment, says there is an "enormous disconnect" between the victims of spinal-cord injuries and some of the "extremely conservative" doctors who treat them in Canada.

"These doctors cannot comprehend what a nightmare this brutal condition is to live with on a day-to-day basis," he says. "I reject the advice of 'Accept it, never walk again' as ignorant blatherings from dinosaurs."

Kowalski says he has experienced small but significant improvements in his sensory and motor functions since his treatment by Huang last year. "This isn't about false hope, but genuine hope based on years of sound science."

McDonald is equally unhappy with the attitude of the medical establishment. "Most neurologists seem to dismiss anything that comes out of anywhere except their own offices," he says. "They won't look at anything."

Huang extracts what are called olfactory ensheathing glial (OEG) cells from fetuses aborted during the second trimester of pregnancy. The cells are cultured in a lab so they multiply, and then injected just above and below the injured part of the spine.

OEG cells, found above the bridge of the nose at the base of the brain, have generated interest among scientists because they are the only nerve cells in the body that regenerate throughout life. However, most experiments have been done with rats, or using OEG cells harvested from the noses of living adults.