- With Mayo Clinic emeritus consultant
Jay L. Hoecker, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Jay L. Hoecker, M.D.
Jay L. Hoecker, M.D.
Dr. Jay Hoecker, an emeritus consultant in the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, brings valuable expertise to MayoClinic.com in general and primary care pediatrics. He has a particular interest in infectious diseases of children.
Dr. Hoecker, a Fort Worth, Texas, native, is certified as a pediatrician by the American Board of Pediatrics and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He was trained at Washington University's St. Louis Children's Hospital, and in infectious diseases at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He has been with Mayo Clinic since 1989.
"The World Wide Web is revolutionizing the availability and distribution of information, including health information about children and families," Dr. Hoecker says. "The evolution of the Web has included greater safety, privacy and accuracy over time, making the quality and access to children's health information immediate, practical and useful. I am happy to be a part of this service to patients from a trusted name in medicine, to use and foster all the good the Web has to offer children and their families."
Treatments and drugs (2)
- Autism treatment: Can special diets help?
- Autism treatment: Can chelation therapy help?
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Question
Autism treatment: Can chelation therapy help?
My son has autism. An acquaintance told me that his son's autism was cured with chelation therapy. Is this possible?
Answer
from Jay L. Hoecker, M.D.
There's no scientific evidence that chelation therapy is an effective autism treatment.
Over the years, some doctors and parents have recommended chelation therapy as a potential autism treatment. Proponents believe that autism is caused by mercury exposure, such as from childhood vaccines. Chelation therapy supposedly removes mercury from the body, which cures autism — but extensive studies have revealed no evidence of a link between mercury exposure and autism. In addition, chelation therapy can be associated with serious side effects, including potentially fatal liver and kidney damage.
There's no cure for autism. As a result, unproven alternative therapies are often suggested to parents who — frustrated by the lack of effective medical treatment for autism — are desperate to find something that will help their children. However, in clinical studies, these alternative therapies are usually found to be ineffective and sometimes harmful.
Consult your son's doctor if you're considering an alternative autism treatment. He or she can help you identify the treatments that are most likely to be effective for your son, as well as local resources that may provide additional support.
Next questionAutism treatment: Can special diets help?
- Chelation therapy. Association for Science in Autism Treatment. http://www.asatonline.org/resources/treatments/chelation.htm. Accessed Sept. 11, 2008.
- Stokstad E. Stalled trial for autism highlights dilemma of alternative treatments. Science. 2008;321:326.
- Sinha Y. Chelation therapy and autism. British Medical Journal. 2006;333:756.
- Nelson KB, et al. Thimerosal and autism? Pediatrics. 2003;111:674.
