A renowned expert in stem cell therapy approaches for treating chronic diseases such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, Dr. Richard Burt has also contributed research to peer-reviewed publications such as BioMed Central and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Richard Burt specializes in treating severe autoimmune disorders, including multiple sclerosis and systemic sclerosis (scleroderma).
Systemic sclerosis (Scleroderma) is a rare but serious disorder that affects connective tissues throughout the body. It is believed to be caused by an overactive immune response that accelerates collaging synthesis, which hardens the body’s tissues.
While the exact causes of this condition are not well understood, once the disease is has diffuse skin involvement or involves the lungs, the mortality from the disease is 5-6 % per year every year without a plateau in mortality
Dr Burt has two publications in The Lancet medical journal on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Dr Burt completed the first randomized trial of HSCT for systemic sclerosis called ASSIST and since then two other randomized trials of HSCT for systemic sclerosis (ASTIS and SCOT) confirmed Dr Burt's results. Most recently Dr Burt published a paper in Bone Marrow Transplantation in 2020 showing a much safer way to do HSCT for systemic sclerosis. In this new approach Dr Burt decreased the duration of neutropenia from 10 days to 5 days with the same improvements in skin score and lung function.
