Long-Term Outcome in Fetal Cell Transplants for Parkinson Disease

Human fetal tissue transplantation for Parkinson disease (PD) was a procedure of great interest in the 1990s. Two NIH-funded, randomized clinical trials demonstrated that dopamine cells transplanted into the striatum remained viable, but the clinical benefits of the procedure were inconsistent (N Engl J Med 2001; 344:710). Now, researchers report on neuropathologic findings in a patient who had received bilateral human fetal grafts at age 63. The patient had longstanding PD; his symptoms improved for 12 years after the procedure but worsened in the last 2 years of life.

Postmortem brain examination revealed dopamine-cell loss and Lewy inclusion bodies in the substantia nigra, typical of PD. Grafted neurons were identified in the striatum, wh…