Federal regulators are warning people not to seek a controversial treatment that involves infusions of plasma donated by young people.
The FDA says it has learned about clinics in several state offering to treat aging-related ailments, from normal memory loss to serious conditions like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, muliple sclerosis, even PTSD, by giving the patient an infusion of plasma, taken specifically from young donors. The FDA says there is no science to back up claims that it can help those conditions.
Dr. James Diaz, professor of public health at LSU, agrees.
"Plasma is indicated only in patients who have lost a lot of blood, for example, or patients who have bleeding disorders, such as hemophilia," said the doctor.
Dr. Diaz says unnecessary plasma infusions can also have bad side effects: "You could develop allergic reactions, like transfusion reactions, you can even develop what we call TRALI, a transfusion-related lung injury."