Autism Therapy: DMSA

definition of DMSA: not yet defined.

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Safety and Efficacy of Oral DMSA Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Part B – Behavioral Results
BMC Clinical Pharmacology, by Adams, JB, Baral M., Geis E., Mitchell J., Ingram J., Hensley A., Zappia I., and Newmark S., published in 2009, summarized Apr 27, 2010

A single round of DMSA chelation therapy may improve the severity of autism.

The purpose of this study was to see if DMSA therapy is safe and helpful for children with autism. The authors used five tools to assess changes in autism symptoms. Three of the tools (PDD-BI, SAS and PGI) showed improved behaviors in the children who were given one round of DMSA therapy, and those who were given seven rounds of DMSA therapy. The authors believe that one round of treatment may be enough for some children to excrete toxic metals. The children who released the most metals (thallium, arsenic, mercury, and lead) were the ones with the most improved autism symptoms.


Safety and Efficacy of Oral DMSA Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Part A – Medical Results
BMC Clinical Pharmacology, by Adams, JB, Baral M., Geis E., Mitchell J., Ingram J., Hensley A., Zappia I., and Newmark S., published in 2009, summarized Mar 4, 2010

Oral dimercapto succinic acid (DMSA) therapy may be helpful in normalizing red blood cell glutathione levels in children with autism.

This study was designed to see if DMSA therapy (9 doses over 3 days, 10 mg/kg-dose) would cause children with autism to excrete toxic metals. DMSA was very good at causing lead to be released from the body. The children seemed to have less lead in their bodies after treatment than children in other research studies. Children were given 3 rounds of DMSA treatment. Researchers said that 80% of the children may need more than three rounds of DMSA treatment in order to remove all of the toxic metals. The authors said that DMSA therapy may reduce toxic metals and improve glutathione levels with few apparent side effects.


24-Hour Provoked Urine Excretion Test for Heavy Metals in Children with Autism and Typically Developing Controls, a Pilot Study
Clinical Toxicology, by Soden, SE, Lowry J. A., Garrison CB, and Wasserman GS, published in 2007, summarized Aug 3, 2007

Chelation therapy does not bring out higher levels of metals from the bodies of children with autism than it does from the bodies of other children.

This study was designed to see if children with autism have higher body burdens of heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury) than other children. If the heavy metals were present in children with autism then it might be helpful to get rid of them through chelation therapy. The authors note that there are no standards for how much heavy metals come out in the urine of "normal" children when the children were provoked by DMSA (chelation therapy). Standards do exist for the amount of heavy metals that can be found in the urine of "normal" children. The authors were not able to find any excess heavy metals in autistic children (standard urine and DMSA provoked urine).


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National Institute of Mental Health Decides to Cancel Study on Chelation

Sep 23, 2008

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) had planned a study on the effects of chelation therapy on children with autism. Chelation therapy purports to pull toxic metals such as mercury from children. While some parents claim to have found chelation therapy helpful in reducing symptoms of autism, the NIMH found that there was no strong medical science to back up the parent claims. The NIMH was also concerned that the drug used for chelation (DMSA) was too risky for use with children. The NIMH therefore cancelled the chelation study.

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