Michigan Hospital Propagates Myth for "Xiao's Procedure"

The controversial "Xiao's Procedure" has been practiced in at least one hospital in the US on clinical trial basis. In April, 2008, Beaumont Hospitals in Michigan reported some of its initial success. In that press release from the hospital is the following passage:

The research at Beaumont uses a spinal surgery pioneered in China to redirect nerves from the leg to the bladder to gain better control of urination. Beaumont is the only U.S. hospital performing this surgery, and patients have traveled from as far as Utah and Pennsylvania to have it. The Chinese doctor who developed the surgery, Chuan-Guo Xiao, M.D., reports an almost 90-percent success rate and an average time for results of 12-24 months after surgery.

This "almost 90-percent success rate" is solely based on Dr. Xiao Chuanguo's own assertion and has now been seriously questioned in newspaper reports. An independent investigation has so far not been able to identify or confirm a single success case. Instead, it recovered numerous cases with severe side effects.

Separately, in an online forum on spina bifida conditions, a patient posted a letter from the same Beaumont Hospitals in response for his inquiry of the procedure. The letter repeated the same assertion from Dr. Xiao Chuanguo himself without any qualification. Furthermore, the letter states:

In China, this procedure is now standard of care. Dr. Xiao has taught this procedure to surgeon's at all the major hospitals in China.

This is totally a lie. As of now, there is only one local hospital in Zhengzhou, China, which performs this procedure routinely. It is far from being a "standard of care".