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Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: therapy + 0.20 + web  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/7/2008)

Alexion Reports Second Quarter 2008 Results PR Newswire (press release), NY - Jul 29, 2008 "Our focus on educating physicians on the natural history and clinical consequences of PNH and the benefits of Soliris therapy resulted in continued strong ...ALXN Thoratec Reports 44 Percent Increase in Second Quarter Revenues; PR Newswire (press release), NY - Jul 31, 2008 The company also updated enrollment in the Destination Therapy (DT) arm of its Pivotal clinical trial for the HeartMate II. As of July 25, 2008, ...THOR

Sex-swop therapy at three

Children as young as three are being given highly controversial sex-change treatment on the NHS, it emerged last night.

They receive "counselling" and behaviour therapy if they are identified as having "gender identity problems".

The patients can include boys who like to play with dolls and children who want playmates of the opposite sex only.

Once they reach 16 they can be prescribed hormone drugs to prevent normal sexual development, paving the way for sex-swop surgery at 18.

Psychiatric experts at the Gender Identity Development Service clinic, run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in North London believe the treatment gives children time to explore their feelings about sexuality.

'Parents will be appalled and shocked'

The revelation provoked outrage last night.

Norman Wells of the pressure group Family and Youth Concern said he was worried that children were being labelled with a medical condition simply because they enjoyed playing with toys mostly used by the other sex.

"Preferring to play with children of the opposite sex hardly justifies professional counselling," he added.

"It is alarming that young children and teenagers are receiving hormonal treatment for a perceived disorder when there is no evidence this is a physical condition that can be solved by hormones or surgery." Hugh McKinney, chairman of the National Family Campaign said: "It is a ridiculous notion to treat children for gender identity problems when they haven't even gone through puberty. Parents will be appalled and shocked.

"The Government has to step in to stop this nonsense before it damages any more children."

Treatment programme

Children are referred to the centre by GPs and psychiatrists. A team of doctors, nurses, psychologists and psychotherapists will concentrate on relationships within the family, at school and with friends and draw up a treatment programme.

The average age of patients is 11, but some have been just three.

Until they are 16, the youngsters receive only counselling and behaviour therapy. But at 16, girls take an oestrogen-suppressant which stops periods and further enlargement of the breasts for up to a year.

Boys of the same age are prescribed drugs which affect testosterone production, to suppress growth of body hair and further deepening of the voice. The clinic will not recommend sex swap operations for under-18s but may refer older patients to adult clinics. Its supporters, however, are now calling for a cut in the age limits for surgery and drug treatment.

They include a mother who helps run a charity called Mermaids, which has 100 members.

The woman, whose son became a transsexual at 17, two years after first visiting the clinic, said: "We have had contact with parents worried about children from the age of three. Certainly the clinic has seen children from three.

"We would like to see them giving surgery and hormones a lot earlier. It provides the right body for them to live in. This could alleviate a lot of the awful depression many young people go through when they feel they are trapped in the wrong body."

The leader of the clinic team, consultant psychiatrist Dr Domenico Di Ceglie, is a strong supporter of early treatment. He has written medical papers arguing: "Often they complain of having been unhappy children and at times desperate teenagers, and that their suffering has not been recognised early enough." He was not prepared to comment yesterday.

Guidelines on the treatment and management of children and teenagers with gender identity disorders are currently under review by the Royal College of Psychiatrists while the Government is to issue advice on the funding and care of transsexuals in the New Year.