International Scholars Issue Open Letter Supporting Xiao Chuanguo

Exactly one year ago, Hollywood celebrities were busy writing appealing letters on behalf of Roman Polanski, a movie director who was convicted for child rape. A couple of years earlier, a world-renowned scientist, William French Anderson, might have his sentence for molestation reduced because of supporting letters from his colleagues, including a Nobel Laureate.

Today, 31 internationally-renowned scholars, most of whom are accepting fundings for experiments on Xiao's Procedure, issued an open letter supporting Dr. Xiao Chuanguo, who had confessed to the hideous crime of masterminding two brutal attacks on an investigative reporter and a free-lance writer who had worked to expose his fraud.

The common thread of these letters is that their authors pay little or no regards to the horrible injuries caused by the perpetrators, in the name that the criminals or suspects had previous made valuable contributions to the society and therefore somehow should be judged more than mere citizens. Where are the moral standards?

In addition, this particular letter once again states the Beaumont Hospital result has confirmed that "[nerve] rerouting does occur," without even a mention of the critical comments by their peers published in the same issue of the Journal of Urology. Where is scholastic honesty?

To those protected elites who never fail to protect one of their own, where is the shame?

Below is the open letter, in its entire glory:

Open letter in support of Chuan-Guo Xiao, M.D. from the

International Academic Community

September 29, 2010

To all,

We have all had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Chuan-Guo Xiao for many years. He is an internationally respected surgeon-scientist who has made major advances in the development of neuroregeneration to restore voiding and bowel function. Dr. Xiao performed groundbreaking animal research in the United States, demonstrating that a motor nerve that innervates the leg can be used to reinnervate the bladder and bowel. This reinnervation allows for development of a reflex to initiate bladder function. The results of his studies were published in peer-reviewed journals and other scientists have replicated Xiao’s findings confirming these results.

Dr. Xiao eventually took the courageous step of moving from animal research to human studies and began performing the rerouting procedure on patients with spinal cord injury and spina bifida in China. Neurogenic bladder is life threatening in China due to a lack of both antimuscarinics and intermittent catheterization, and lessening the complications of neurogenic bladder would be considered a lifesaving success. Patients with neurogenic bladder and bowel suffer greatly and endure a host of issues such as urinary retention, incontinence, recurrent infections, renal insufficiency, fecal incontinence, constipation, and poor quality of life. For a procedure as complicated as nerve rerouting requiring nerve regeneration, one cannot expect normalization of bladder and bowel function to be the definition of success. What is important is that the benefits outweigh the risks of the procedure.

Dr. Xiao published his clinical results in peer-reviewed journals and was twice honored by the Jack Lapides Essay Contest, one of the most respected international awards given to scientists who make major contributions to the field of neurourology. In 2008, he was named the Kelm Hjalmas Memorial Lecturer from the International Children’s Continence Society for his scientific achievements. Many of us have traveled to China to examine patients treated by Dr. Xiao and/or have been trained by him in the nerve rerouting surgery he invented. Dr. Xiao is a very skilled surgeon who is passionate about patient care and works tirelessly to train physicians around the world in performing his nerve rerouting procedure.

In the United States, an independent and very rigorous pilot research trial was performed to test the safety and efficacy of this procedure. The one-year results were recently published in the Journal of Urology. At the 12-month follow-up visit, a cutaneous to bladder reflex was found in 7 of 9 spina bifida patients, confirming that rerouting does occur. This finding by itself is remarkable and Dr. Xiao should be commended. In addition, a number of patients demonstrated improvement in bladder and bowel function, which has continued to improve with longer patient follow-up.

The 36-month results are currently being analyzed and will be reported in the near future. The pilot data was supportive of Dr. Xiao’s procedure, and now an NIH sponsored clinical trial is being conducted to further study lumbar to sacral nerve rerouting in spina bifida patients. In addition, similar procedures have been done worldwide, with Dr. Xiao helping to mentor the surgeons at each site.

The Chinese people and government should be proud of Dr. Xiao for his dedication to his patients, his scientific achievements, and his willingness to train doctors around the world how to perform his surgery. The International scientific community was shocked to hear of Dr. Xiao’s arrest. Those of us who know Dr. Xiao well find it difficult to believe that he is involved in these attacks.

Dr. Xiao is a compassionate man who is respected worldwide for his integrity and his innovative scientific contributions to society. We implore the Chinese government and authorities to treat Dr. Xiao fairly and to protect his human rights as these charges are investigated. Please strongly consider Dr. Xiao’s scientific and humanitarian contributions to the world as facts are gathered in this case.

Sincerely,

Kenneth M. Peters, MD

Professor and Chairman of Urology

Beaumont Hospital

Royal Oak, Michigan USA

Jack S. Elder, M.D.

Chief of Urology, Henry Ford Health System

Associate Director, Vattikuti Urology Institute

Department of Urology,

Children's Hospital of Michigan

Detroit, MI USA

Edwin A. Smith M.D.

Assistant Clinical Professor of Urology

Emory University School of Medicine

Atlanta, Georgia USA

Kevin M. Feber, MD, FAAP

Beaumont Children's Hospital

Royal Oak, MI USA

Ananias C. Diokno, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Executive Vice President & CMO

Beaumont Hospital

Royal Oak, Michigan 48073 USA

Juan José de Benito

Urologist

Hospital Nacional de Clínicas

Córdoba, Argentina.

William E. Nantau B.Sc., CNIM

Clinical Manager

Clinical Neurophysiology Department

Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak, MI USA

Evan J Kass MD,FACS,FAAP

Chief, Division of Pediatric Urology

Beaumont Childrens Hospital

Professor of Urology, Oakland University-William

Beaumont School of Medicine

USA

Jacques Corcos MD.

Professor of Urology, McGill University

General Secretary of the International Continence

Society

Jewish General hospital

3755 Cote Ste-Catherine

Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 1E2

Jose Gonzalez, M.D.

Department of Urology

Beaumont Hospital

Royal Oak, Michigan USA

Christopher Payne, MD

Associate Professor of Urology

Stanford University Medical School

Stanford, CA 94305-5118 USA

Kenneth I. Glassberg, MD

Director, Division of Pediatric Urology

Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-

Presbyterian

Professor of Urology, Columbia University

College of Physicians and Surgeons

3959 Broadway, CHN 1118 NY USA

Earl Y. Cheng, MD

Associate Professor of Urology

Children’s Memorial Hospital

Chicago, Illinois USA

Darius J. Bagli, MDCM

Professor of Surgery

Senior Associate Scientist

Director of Urology Research

Divisions of Urology and

Developmental & Stem Cell Biology

The Hospital For Sick Children

Institute of Medical Science

University of Toronto

Henri B. LOTTMANN, MD, FEBU, FEBPS,

FRCS(england) FEBPU

Paediatric urology unit

Hopital Necker-Enfants-Malades

149, rue de Sèvres

75015 Paris, France

Dr. Amrish Vaidya MS. MCh.

Consultant Paediatric Surgeon,

Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital,

4 Bungalows, Andheri W, Mumbai, India

Marc Cendron, MD

Associate Professor in Urology

Harvard Medical School

Children’s Hospital Boston

Boston, MA USA

Stuart B. Bauer, MD

Associate Director, Neurourology

Professor of Urology

Harvard Medical School

Children’s Hospital Boston

Boston, MA USA

Edmond T. Gonzales, Jr., MD

Professor of Urology

Baylor College of Medicine

Houston TX USA

Richard Macchia, MD FACS

SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor

Cleveland Clinic, Florida

Benjamin Girdler, MD

Urology Center of the Rockies

Fort Collins, Colorado USA

William C. de Groat, Ph.D.

Professor of Pharmacology

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA USA

Michael R. Ruggieri, Sr., Ph.D.

Director of Urologic Research

Temple University School of Medicine

Philadelphia, PA USA

Stanley J Kogan MD

Chief, Pediatric Urology

Children's Hospital at Montefiore

Bronx NY USA

Anthony Caldamone, MD

University Urologic Associates, Inc.

2 Dudley St Ste 185

Providence, RI 02905 USA

Yves Homsy MD, FRCSC, FAAP

Clinical Professor of Urological Surgery and

Pediatrics

University of South Florida

Children's Urology Group

5507 E. Longboat Blvd

Tampa FL 33615 USA

Dr. Enrique Turina

Professor of urology of the National University of

Buenos Aires

Chief of section Urology of Instituto de

Rehabilitación

Government of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dr. Angel Ozón

Urologist of the Instituto de Rehabilitación of Buenos

Aires

Dr. Daniel Ekizian

Urologist of Instituto de Rehabilitación.

Professor Dr. med. Karl-Dietrich Sievert

Vice Chair

Prof. of Urology, Director - Uro-oncology,

Neurourology, Incontinence, & Reconstructive

Urology

Department of Urology University of Tuebingen

D72076 Tuebingen, Germany

Holly Gilmer, MD

Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery

Beaumont Hospital

Royal Oak, Michigan USA

Yegappan Lakshmanan, MD

Chief, Pediatric Urology

Children’s Hospital of Michigan

Detroit, MI USA