Parkinson ’s and neurodegenerative diseases: sperimentation with Thiamine by doctor Fancellu in Genova

Parkinson ’s and neurodegenerative diseases: sperimentation with Thiamine by doctor Fancellu in Genova

Roberto Fancellu is a doctor for the hospital San Martino di Genova. He’s a neurologist who devotes a lot of his work towards the treatment of Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA).

We have also been following his sperimentation with Thiamine to contrats neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson ’s and many others as indicated by doctor Antonio Costantini.

We ask him what kindled his passion for his studies, and the choice to find a remedy to a vastly complex neurodegenerative illness? What was his professional voyage?

Fancellu: I graduated from the university of Varese and later specialized at the neurological institute of Pavia; then I worked for six years in the International group of bio medicine, an Italian and International Landmark for neurological and genetic diseases. There we worked in particular on SCA and mitochondrion diseases.

Q: The term ataxia defines a group of neurodegenerative diseases that cause the progressive loss of movement, poor limb and visual coordination. Which are the most common symptoms?

Fancellu: SCA diseases are numerous and present a variety of symptoms such as poor balance and coordination; writing, for example, because very difficult and so does correct pronounciation of words.

Q: How does one reach a diagnosis?

Fancellu: It begins with a diagnosis in surgery, where the patient relates the symptoms to the doctor; the surgeon then follows up with a neurological exam, and decides to run a MRI that may show atrophy in the area of the brain predominantly afflicted by these diseases. These forms of SCA are numerous; some can develop, but most are genetic. They can be transmitted genetically in a variety of ways.

Q: In 2013, during a convention in Viterbo concerning neurodegenerative diseases, you met doctor Costantini, from the casa di Cura Villa Immacolata di Soriano al Cimino. In those days, a scientific magazine had published Costantini’s article in regards to the Friedreich disease. The problem was that many of the patients came from the North, and found great difficulty in moving to Lazio to follow a therapy. Is this why doctor Costantini turned to you? Starting with SCA, was that the occasion to face even the problematic Parkinson’s disease?

Fancellu:  At the time doctor Costantini was already following a number of patients suffering from Friedreich’s and Parkinson’s, which he cured with massive doses of Thiamine. I was spurned by the very same patients that demanded clarifications. In fairness, there weren’t any other effective farmaceutical therapies. So I consulted with doctor Costantini who immediately sent me a series of articles in which he described the effectiveness of Thiamine in contrasting Friedrich’s and Parkinson’s. The patients were many and a part of the northern patients came to Genova where I visited a number of them. In Genova I follow around 25 patients being treated with Thiamine. The results with the Ataxia aren’t as awesome as with Parkinson’s disease. However the following conditions are worth noting: firstly the Parkinson’s patients are older than the patients suffering from Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA or FRDA). This means that the damage in the cerebellar structures are greater in the patients with FA. Perhaps, extraordinary results can be reached if we manage to treat these patients as soon as the disease begins. Undoubtedly the results are there, the patients gain a little more coordination, they walk better and suffer less from exhaustion and fatigue.

Q: The results are better in Parkinson’s patients than FA patients?

Fancellu: Yes they are better; they are also more tangible; the tremors reduce noticeably and the patients are quicker in their movements.

Q: This only through administration of Thiamine, or also of Levodopa?

Fancellu: The Thiamine treatment hasn’t required an increase in Levodopa in the patients that underwent it.

Q: And the results of the massive dosage of Thiamine?

 Fancellu: the results are good;

Q: Parkinson’s is a terrible disease, invasive to the motor and nervous system. Without stirring pointless and detrimental hopes in many ill, do you think that the cure through the huge dosage of Thiamine  can at least halt the course of Parkinson’s disease?

Fancellu: to answer this question we need a more complete and organized research. This is part of what we are trying to accomplish in Genova: a double blind experiment in which some patients receive the therapy whereas the others are given a placebo. Neither patient nor doctor know which drug the patient is treated with. At the end of the year we can see whether the group that has been taking Thiamine has yielded more results than the group that took the placebo.

Q: When will the first experiments begin?

Fancellu: With the organization of fundraising and the interview with the ethics committee, it could start in September. For the duration of a year.

For the moment there exists documentation of patients suffering from Parkinson’s that doctor Costantini has been curing with Thiamine since 2011, with videos and audio files that show the patients before and after the cure.

Giuseppe Careri