Would like to know the Success rates of Mercury Chelation in Autistic
kids as reported by medical experts and Pros and Cons or side effects
of this process.
Also, would like to know the Best known doctors and experts in the
field and the sources of this information.

Pls. also provide links or documents of any latest research (since
2002) on Mercury Chelation

Hello, haathi-ga!

 Your question was more complicated to answer than I had thought it
would be! There is a lot of information on autism and mercury
chelation, but most of it is anecdotal, pushed by nutrition or
naturpathic companies and not based on scientific study. Therefore, I
focused my results only on resources that had some scientific backing.

 The doctors I referenced are highly regarded by the Autism Research
Institute, and considered experts in their field. As for "pros" and
"cons", aside from the support for or against chelation, the majority
of "con" information centers on side effects or the claim of
"quackery," whereas the "pro" side claims some good results.

 Statistics were the most difficult to find. I found only one
authoritative article that had statistical references for outcomes of
mercury chelation therapy. And, I could find no legitimate,
scientifically-based articles as recent as 2003.

 However, I believe the following information answers your question in
terms of a scientific overview of chelation therapy for autism.

The Autism Research Institute, in a preface about their "Mercury
Detoxification Consensus Position Paper," has this to say:
http://www.autism.com/ari/mercurydetox.html

"Mercury Detoxification"

"During the past year, a number of physicians from throughout the
United States who have been working with autistic children have
reported extremely good results in improving the health and behavior
of autistic children when the mercury in the children’s bodies were
removed by a systematic process of detoxification. Some of these
physicians, who have specialized in the treatment of autistic children
for a number of years, and who have treated many hundreds of autistic
children, report that no other treatment has brought about the
remarkable improvement that they have seen in many cases of mercury
detoxification. Detoxification is not simple, and there are many
competing detoxification protocols."

"In response to this situation, the Autism Research Institute (ARI)
convened a Consensus Conference on the Detoxification of Autistic
Children in Dallas, Texas, February 9th through 11th, 2001.

** The attendees were 25 carefully selected physicians and scientists
knowledgeable about mercury and mercury detoxification. The 15
physicians present included 7 who were parents of autistic children
and who had detoxified their own children with excellent results. The
physician attendees present had treated well over 3,000 patients for
heavy metal poisoning, about 1,500 of them being autistic children.
The chemists, toxicologists, and other scientists present had a
combined total of almost 90 years of experience in studying the
toxicology of mercury." ****


=====



Physicians and Experts
**********************

I culled the following physician's names from the paper "MERCURY
DETOXIFICATION
CONSENSUS GROUP POSITION PAPER." AUTISM RESEARCH INSTITUTE. (May 2001)
http://www.autism.com/ari/mercuryconsensus.html

Sidney M. Baker, M.D.
Weston, Connecticut

Frank George, M.D.
Sun City, Arizona
 
Woody McGinnis, M.D.
Tucson, Arizona 
 
John Green, M.D.
Canby, Oregon 

James Neubrander, M.D.
Edison, New Jersey
  
Kenneth Bock, M.D.
Rhinebeck, New York
 
Boyd E. Haley, Ph.D.
Lexington, Kentucky 
 
Marvin Boris, M.D. 
Woodbury, New York 

Stephanie Hoener, N.D. 
Palm Bay, Florida 

Jon Pangborn, Ph.D.
St. Charles, Illinois 
 
Jeff Bradstreet, M.D.
Palm Beach, Florida 

Amy Holmes, M.D.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 

Paul Peirsel, M.D.
Meadville, Pennsylvania 
 
Stephanie Cave, M.D.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
 
John Kucera, M.D.
Colorado Springs, Colorado

David Quig, Ph.D. 
West Chicago, Illinois 
 
Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D.
Salem, Oregon 

James R. Laidler, M.D.
Portland, Oregon 

Lyn Redwood, R.N., C.R.N.P.
Tyrone, Georgia 
 
Jane El-Dahr, M.D.
New Orleans, Louisiana 

Michael Lyon, M.D. 
Vancouver Island, Canada 

Bernard Rimland, Ph.D. 
San Diego, California 
 
Carol Englender, M.D.
Newton Highlands, Massachusetts 

Maureen H. McDonnell, R.N. 
Pennington, New Jersey
 
Jeffrey Segal, M.D.
Greensboro, North Carolina 

===

A List of US Practitioners associated with "Defeat Autism Now" can be
found at:

"DAN! Physician Referral List-Implementing the DEFEAT AUTISM
NOW!Consensus Report
http://www.cgiworker.com/danlist/danlist.html

Practioners outside the US may be found at:
http://www.cgiworker.com/danlist/dan2list.html


====



Pros" of Chelation Therapy
***************************

"Detoxification of mercury and other heavy metals by DMSA/DMPS
chelation can have marked benefit."

From "Autism, an extreme challenge to integrative medicine. Part 2:
medical management. Kidd PM. "Altern Med Rev 2002 Dec;7(6):472-99.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12495373&dopt=Abstract

===


"Of the chelating agents available at present, DMSA (succimer, Chemet
(R) ) provides the optimal combination of safety and efficacy. DMSA
has been used extensively for nearly fifty years and is approved by
the USFDA to treat lead poisoning in children; its safety record is
exemplary 20 . There is far less experience using DMPS, especially in
children, and the adult experience with it has shown that it is
significantly more toxic than DMSA. DMPS is currently not approved for
any use by the USFDA."

"More beneficial "side effects" reported with DMSA therapy in autistic
children include rapid progression of language ability, improved
social interaction, improved eye contact, and decreased
self-stimulatory behaviors ("stimming"). Children with motor problems
have experienced significant improvement in both strength and
coordination."

"MERCURY DETOXIFICATION CONSENSUS GROUP POSITION PAPER." AUTISM
RESEARCH INSTITUTE. (May 2001)
http://www.autism.com/ari/mercuryconsensus.html


===



"Cons", or Side Effects of Mercury Chelation Therapy
*************************************************** 


"DMSA can cause bone marrow suppression and is potentially hepatotoxic
18 . There have been no reports yet of permanent bone marrow
suppression or liver damage, but the literature has many case reports
of significant neutropenia and thrombocytopenia during therapy with
DMSA. Prior to starting therapy, it is important that a complete blood
count (CBC) with platelet count be checked, both to provide a baseline
as well as to detect any pre-existing abnormalities. Blood levels of
liver transaminases (ALT and AST) are also important for the same
reasons."


"DMSA is primarily excreted in the urine 19 , so kidney dysfunction
will cause it to accumulate in the blood. To prevent serious toxicity,
it is important to detect any decreased renal function prior to
starting therapy. In the absence of any signs or symptoms of renal
insufficiency, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine levels should
be adequate to document normal renal function. If there are any
reasons to suspect renal insufficiency, creatinine clearance should be
measured. Periodic checks of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine should
also be performed when other blood studies are done."


"Common side effects of DMSA are nausea, diarrhea, anorexia,
flatulence and fatigue. If these become serious enough, reducing the
dose will usually make the symptoms tolerable. Occasionally, patients
develop a maculopapular rash during treatment; this should not to be
confused with an allergic reaction 27 . Some autistic children are
reported to experience a transient regression in language and behavior
during and shortly after treatment. Reducing the dose may also make
these symptoms less bothersome. Clinical experience suggests that most
children who experience regression at the start of therapy will have
less regression with each subsequent cycle of treatment."


"Serious side effects of DMSA are extremely rare and include allergic
reaction, toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) and erythema multiforme
(Stevens-Johnson syndrome) a. Potentially dangerous neutropenia and
thrombocytopenia may also occur 28 . While reducing the dose may
reduce the severity of the neutropenia and thrombocytopenia, truly
dangerous reductions in cell count are a contraindication to continued
therapy without a compelling reason to do so. Obviously, allergic
reaction, TEN and Stevens-Johnson syndrome are absolute
contraindications to continued therapy."


"A number of children have shown significant improvement while taking
the DMSA, which regresses when they stop, even for the "rest period"
of each cycle. These children need to be dealt with on a case-by-case
basis, since there is insufficient clinical experience so far to
recommend a course of action."


"MERCURY DETOXIFICATION CONSENSUS GROUP POSITION PAPER." AUTISM
RESEARCH INSTITUTE. (May 2001)
http://www.autism.com/ari/mercuryconsensus.html


==


 According to "Autism and Mercury Detoxification," by P. Kane, Ph.D.
and J. Mercola, D.O..
Optimal Wellness Center. Issue 173. (10/1/2000)
http://autism.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mercola.com%2F2000%2Foct%2F1%2Fmercury_autism.htm

"Some chelationists allege that childhood autism is caused by mercury
toxicity and treatable with chelation. However, there is no scientific
evidence that autism has a toxic cause or is associated with abnormal
levels of heavy metals."

Read "NCAHF Policy Statement on Chelation Therapy." National Council
Against Health Fraud.
(10/7/2002)
http://www.ncahf.org/policy/chelation.html


===


".... some natural medicine clinicians have some serious concerns
about the use of DMSA. There have been cases of:

seizures 
increased self-stimming 
and compromised central nervous system function in some children 


DMSA and Mercury Redistribution To The Brain

"It appears that DMSA and lipoic acid can create tissue redistribution
of mercury as decreasing Hg levels in the kidney (the organ
accumulating Hg most abundantly) increases Hg concentrations of Hg in
blood, brain, lung, heart, muscle and liver (Gregus et al)."

"Natural medical physicians throughout the US have reported MS
symptoms in adults and intractable seizures in pediatric patients with
high dose and extended use of DMSA (2, 3-dimercaptosuccinic acid),
Chemet or Succimer."

Other Problems With DMSA

"Extended use of DMSA can cause mild to moderate neutropenia with
increased SGOT, SGPT, Platelet count, Cholesterol, Alkaline
Phosphatase and Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN). Adverse reactions to DMSA
include ataxia, convulsions, rash, nausea, diarrhea, anorexia,
headache, dizziness, sensorimotor neuropathy, decreased urination,
arrhythmia, infection. Zinc excretion doubles during the
administration of DMSA. Patients must be kept hydrated as renal
function can be compromised."

"For the above described reasons in all good conscious we can not
recommend the use of DMSA for the treatment of mercury toxic pediatric
patients."

"Approaching the fragile brain architecture of young children with
autism, PDD and seizure disorders brings about tremendous
responsibility in protecting the children from invasive interventions
that risk alteration in brain function."


===



Success Rate Statistics
************************

 The article, "Chelation of Mercury for the Treatment of Autism," Amy
S. Holmes M.D. (no date) at
http://healing-arts.org/children/holmes.htm has some limited
statistics:


Early Results: 

"We currently have over 500 autistic patients under treatment with
DMSA ranging in age from 1 to 24 years old. In general, we do not
expect to see any behavioral, language, or social improvements until
at least some of the CNS mercury has been removed. As of 1/15/01, we
had 85 patients who had finished DMSA alone and had completed at least
4 months of DMSA + lipoic acid. The results of treatment in these
patients are presented below:

n = 85  Improvement (%)  
Age  Number  Marked  Moderate  Slight  None  
1-5    40  	35  	39  	15  	11  
6-12   25         4     28      52      16  
13-17  16        0       6      68      26  
18+     4        0       0      25      75  

Once lipoic acid is added, we usually track mercury excretion via
tests of fecal mercury. We have noticed a large dependence of
excretion on age of patient with the younger patients excreting much
more mercury than the older patients. We think this difference in
rapidity of excretion may explain the differences in response between
the various age groups.

We have 6 patients, all 1 to 2 years of age who are finished with
treatment by measurements of urinary and fecal mercury excretion.
These 6 patients are "normal" by parent reports and repeat
psychological testing. We have no children over the age of 2 who are
finished with treatment. The rapidity of excretion seems to decrease
markedly with each additional year of age. There are several children,
mostly in the younger age groups, who have made remarkable progress to
the point of being able to be mainstreamed in school, but who are
still have some "oddities" of behavior - none of these children have
completed treatment yet.

These are very early results, but appear very promising. As more data
is gathered, outcomes will be better able to be predicted, including
length of treatment as well as ultimate prognosis.

===


Additional Reading
******************

"Autistic Children Show Improvement With Detoxification." BW
HealthWire (4/26/2002)
http://www.testfoundation.org/autismdetox.htm
(Describes benefits of oral clathration)


==========================

 I sincerely hope the above information provides a good starting point
for information and an answer to your question. If I can be of further
help, or the links do not work, please let me know in a clarification.
I will be happy to help!

Thanks!

umiat-ga

Google Search Strategy
mercury chelation AND autism
PubMed
+succes rates +mercury chelation AND autism
chelation and autism

---

Clarification of Answer by umiat-ga on 27 Mar 2003 10:39 PST

I am sorry that the first line of numbers ran askew on the statistical
table provided in Amy Holme's article. If you push the first line of
numbers over to the right, they are:

Marked Improvement: 35
Moderate Improvement: 39
Slight Improvement: 15
No Improvement: 11

==

I found another article with a few statistics:

Open Trial Of Chelation In Children With Autism
Open Trial Of Chelation With Mes0-2,3-Dimercapto Succinic Acid (Dmsa)
And
Lipoic Acid (La) In Children With Autism.
 [As submitted to IMFAR, June 2, 2001. Thanks to Teresa Binstock on
the
abmd@yahoogroups.com list.]
A. Holmes, S. Cave, and J.M. El-Dahr;
Private Practice, Baton Rouge, LA 70808 and Tulane University Medical
Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112.
http://autismawakeninginia.bizland.com/autismthevaccineconnectionandrelatedstories/id8.html

"Over 400 patients with autism are currently undergoing treatment for
removal of heavy metals. Patients are treated with DMSA alone at doses
of 10
mg/kg/dose 3 times a day for 3 days in a row (shorter duration than
lead
protocol to decrease side effects) with 11 days "off" to allow metals
to
re-equilibrate. After at least 2 rounds of DMSA alone, the thiol
antioxidant
lipoic acid (hypothesized to aide in removal of heavy metals across
the
BBB)is added to each dose of DMSA at 2-3mg/kg/dose. In general,
noticeable
improvements in language, self-help skills, interaction, and core
autistic
features are not seen until the patient has been on DMSA with LA for
2-3
months."
"Of patients who have been on DMSA/LA for at least 4 months, these
results have been noted on general global assessment by parents,
teachers,
and MDs: age 1-5yrs(n=40): marked improvement 35%, moderate 39%,
slight 15%,
none 11%; age 6-12yrs (n=25): marked 4%, moderate 28%, slight 52%,
none 16%;
age 13-17 (n=16): moderate 6%, slight 68%, none 26%; age 18+ (n=4):
slight
25%, none 75%. For example, a boy 5yr 5mo scored in the average range
on a
one word expressive vocabulary test 10/00 and at age equivalent 8yr
2mo in
3/01 with no change in education or medication other than starting
DMSA/LA.
The majority of children excrete mercury, lead, and other metals,
suggesting that there may be a generalized problem with metal
metabolism.
Side effects include transient increases in hyperactivity,
self-stimulatory
behavior, and loose stools. Younger children in particular respond
well to
this therapy with significant improvement in function."

umiat

---

Clarification of Answer by umiat-ga on 05 Apr 2003 21:25 PST

haathi-ga,

 I am sorry my answer did not meet your specifications. However,
please also consider the amount of money you offered for your answer!
Yes, my research could have gone on for days, but what you don't see,
as a questioner, are the amount of hours I put in to the question,
reading articles and discarding the material that did not pertain to
an answer. For all the hours put into research, what comes out in the
answer may not look like as much as you might have expected. Also,
please keep in mind that the researcher only gets 75% of the posted
price.
 I provided an answer which I feel is extremely thorough and to the
point based on the fee you offered. I searched PubMed extensively for
mercury chelation studies as well, but there is not as much support
for this procedure in the mainstream medical community....thus, no
real research. The only statistics I could find came after extensive
searching, and were limited to one study.
 As far as cutting and pasting.....it is often more expedient to give
you exactly what an article says, rather than condensing it. I mainly
excerpted the main points, figuring that you would then read the
articles.
 As for the medical experts, I don't think I could have provided any
better referrals than the ones I gave you.
 Don't know what else to say, other than I am very sorry you feel the
answer left out so much information.

 umiat

I am satisfied with the efforts. Though I feel that there is a still a
lot there which the researcher could have covered and included rather
than cut and paste from the documents referenced.

This site may be of interest to you:

http://www.healing-arts.org/children/holmes.htm

also try www.autismresearchinstitute.com.  there are many alternatives
for treating suspected mercury toxicity (and other heavy metals), and
a number of good places to get a full physiological work up so you can
understand you child's pathology and treat it accordingly.  ARI has a
great newsletter and good chat rooms.

autism is a terrible thing, and there are people desparate to find or
to provide help. Remember the technique of guided, or assisted
communication (I forget the exact term) that was developed and
advocated at Syracuse University? People were sure they were allowing
the kids to communicate, even to the point of finding and prosecuting
rape by their parents. Despite undeniable proof that it was bogus and
that the therapists were (probably unintentionally) doing the
communicating entirely on their own, there are still advocates. Even
"science" isn't always science. There's much reason to think chelation
is in the same category.

There are some herb deemed to be chelate Mercury. Like cilantra,
chitosan, etc. You can searh on google for these term, and especially
autism newsgroup, chelation forum, detoxification board etc. It can
give you a broader opinion from the parents with autistim kid.