Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
China
Home / China / Health

Clinical trials kick off on autism treatment

By ZHOU WENTING in Shanghai | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2022-01-25 09:00
Share
Share - WeChat

China's largest clinical trials studying autism treatment through intestinal microbiota transplantation have kicked off, with more than 10 hospitals throughout the country recruiting patients.

Doctors from Shanghai No 10 People's Hospital, which is leading the clinical trials, said a previous study at the hospital showed that 50 to 70 percent of participants aged between 3 and 13 benefited from the treatment.

"Their improvements in sleeping quality, defecation, and behavioral and language capabilities were the most obvious," said Yan Yinmei, an associate chief physician at its pediatrics department.

Yan said more than half of autistic patients suffer from intestinal dysfunction, and gastrointestinal conditions are often associated with brain development.

Yang Rong, the department's deputy director, said: "The cause of autism remains unclear but our previous study further verified that the imbalance of intestinal microbiota may be a reason for autism. Such a conclusion of our study is consistent with some previously published ones."

She added that she often meets autistic children with gastrointestinal symptoms, including food intolerance, constipation and diarrhea, and a lack of certain nutrients.

"Also, autistic children begin to develop symptoms before the age of 1, and most develop the disease before 3 years old, which coincides with the development process of infants' gut microbiota," Yang said. "This suggests that whether the intestinal microbes can develop normally and maintain stability is directly related to young children's health."

The previous study, which started in June, involved more than 100 child autism patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and was run in collaboration with the hospital's intestinal micro-ecology diagnosis and treatment center.

All the participants received child fecal bacteria transplants, and 10 percent received small intestine fluid as well, which meant that they received transplantations of the entire gastrointestinal microbiota.

Doctors evaluated the participants' conditions, including their core symptoms, mental states, gastrointestinal symptoms, diets and sleep, once a month.

The treatment worked on up to 70 percent of the young patients after four months, Yang said.

Doctors gave the example of a 13-year-old trial participant who was diagnosed with autism at 3. Although the boy underwent rehabilitation regularly in the past decade and was capable of some simple communication, he was irritable, less capable in social skills, lacked physical coordination and was awkward in sports. He often had loose stools.

He participated in the trials in September, and his parents said his condition improved significantly each week.

They said that after completing the first month's treatment, their son had more stable emotions, firmer stools, and could keep up with others during physical exercise at school.

After the second month's treatment, he became more logical in expressing himself. After receiving the fourth month's treatment, he wrote a card expressing his gratitude and best wishes to the doctor in charge of his case.

Yang said her team has now expanded the clinical trials into a multicenter, random, double-blind, and case-control study to further clarify whether the transplantation treatment really works.

Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US