More than to treat Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, which allegedly helped a man with the condition who was bedbound walk again. The procedure 鈥� which involves connecting the lymphatic system to nearby veins to remove Alzheimer鈥檚-associated proteins 鈥� has now been banned in the country.
鈥淲hen I first heard of this treatment, I was shocked,鈥� says at the University of Bern in Switzerland. 鈥淭here is basically no evidence supporting this.鈥�
But initial results from small safety trials in the US and Singapore, which were presented earlier this month at the Alzheimer鈥檚 Association International Conference in London, suggest the approach is safe for up to six months, with some signals of cognitive improvement.
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An ongoing randomised trial is now comparing the surgery against a sham procedure, which should provide a clearer picture of its potential, but some have questioned the ethics of this and how helpful the trial will be.
The surgery, called deep cervical lymphovenous anastomosis (DCLVA), aims to enhance the drainage of brain waste via the lymphatic system, a network of vessels and nodes that collects waste from tissues to be broken down or removed from the body. The idea is that surgically attaching this network to nearby veins accelerates this process to more efficiently clear Alzheimer鈥檚-related proteins like beta-amyloid and tau.
It was developed by at Hangzhou Qiushi Hospital in China, based on a routine treatment for chronically swollen limbs. In 2024, Qingping 鈥� who didn鈥檛 respond to New 女生小视频鈥檚 requests for comment 鈥� and his colleagues reported in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery that they had . They also released a video of a man with Alzheimer鈥檚 who had been bedbound briskly walking eight months after the surgery.
But some have concerns over the reliability of this case report. 鈥淎 video from one patient I would not find trustworthy,鈥� says Proulx, who added that the researchers didn鈥檛 assess for other improvements, such as changes to the man鈥檚 brain-imaging scans.
Still, the footage went viral in China, says at Augusta University in Georgia. By May 2025, thousands of people were estimated to have had the procedure in around 300 private and public hospitals across China.
Reports suggest that , says Proulx, with fees ranging from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand Chinese yuan (thousands to tens of thousands of pounds).
But in June 2025, China鈥檚 National Health Commission banned the procedure outside of research settings, citing a lack of . The commission didn鈥檛 respond to New 女生小视频鈥檚 request for comment. 鈥淚t was appropriate for China to stop DCLVA from being offered for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease,鈥� says , who previously researched Alzheimer鈥檚 disease at Harvard University.
To date, case reports and trials have reported doing DCLVA on people with moderate or severe Alzheimer鈥檚. The US and Singaporean trials presented at the recent Alzheimer鈥檚 conference suggest it is safe over the short term. The Singaporean trial also found evidence of small cognitive improvements in two out of seven of its participants.聽
These improvements aren鈥檛 necessarily trivial, says at the University of Washington in Seattle, but none of these trials was randomised or blinded.
鈥淏ased on the evidence currently available, I would describe DCLVA鈥檚 effectiveness as uncertain because the existing clinical studies in China have generally been uncontrolled, short term and methodologically limited, making it difficult to separate a real surgical effect from placebo effects, postoperative care or fluctuations in the patient鈥檚 condition,鈥� says Gu.
It is also unclear whether any improvements were substantial enough for people or their families to notice them, says at the University of Oslo in Norway.
A randomised controlled trial comparing DCLVA against sham surgery . Led by Hui-Sheng Chen at the General Hospital of Shenyang Military Region in China, who didn鈥檛 respond to New 女生小视频鈥檚 request for comment, the trial is aiming to recruit 50 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer鈥檚. Results are expected next year.
Despite previous trials being criticised for not having control groups, some have questioned the ethics of sham surgery. 鈥淭he risks of any kind of surgery and the accompanying anaesthesia in an elderly and potentially frail population makes the performance of a 鈥榝ake鈥� intervention very difficult to justify, despite the importance to the overall study,鈥� says Iliff.
Eide, who shares these ethical concerns, also points out that the trial鈥檚 protocol says it will look for cognitive improvements four days after the surgery. 鈥淵ou wouldn鈥檛 expect any improvement in such a short time,鈥� he says.
Yet the surgery could have one major advantage: it is a one-off intervention. That makes DCLVA worth pursuing, says at Changi General Hospital, who is involved in the Singapore trial.
Treating Alzheimer鈥檚 generally focuses on relieving symptoms, but antibody therapies such as lecanemab that remove beta-amyloid clumps from the brain are approved in the US and the UK. But their questionable efficacy and high cost, partly due to being infused, mean they aren鈥檛 available through the UK鈥檚 health services. 鈥淭he upside is this [surgery] is a one-time thing,鈥� says at Stanford University in California.
So, could this procedure one day be routine in China again, and even around the world? 鈥淚鈥檓 paying close attention to results being published in this space, as is everyone working on this question,鈥� says Iliff.
