Fetal Tissue Transplantation

Transplantation of Fetal tissuemeans the use of a part of fetal organ/fetal tissue/ group of fetal cells, in the treatment of such recipients who are suffering from intractable diseases viz. refractory neurodegenerative disease (like the cases of Parkinsonism) and not responding to modern scientific treatment. Such transplantation is done after aseptic collection of fetal materials from voluntarily consenting mother and the recipient of the tissue/organ. The process, included legal consent (affidavit in court), ethical consent by the Institutional ethical committee and thorough screening of the tissue/organ for HIV(1&2), Hepatitis(B & C), Cytomegalovirus etc for the donor and the recipient. Fetal tissue transplantation first came into prominence during the manufacture of polio vaccines where aborted human fetal cells were used. Earlier, human fetal tissue transplantation was limited to spontaneous abortions or miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy cases. However, with the concept of birth control, induced fetal abortions came into existence. Abortions may be classified mainly into two groups (a) induced and (b) spontaneous. Spontaneous abortion is also known as a miscarriage but induced abortion can be done by an expert physician only after sufficient consent from the mother, without jeopardizing her health conditions. Many induced abortions are done on healthy fetuses for birth control and social reasons.