In Q2 2006, the National Children’s Hospital will perform bone marrow and stem cell transplants for children.
On February 8, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thanh Liem, Director of the National Children’s Hospital, announced: Following the success of liver and kidney transplants, the hospital is preparing for the techniques of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation.
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| A transplant case performed by Vietnamese doctors (Photo: VNN) |
Accordingly, the bone marrow and stem cell transplantation technique will be applied to children with conditions such as leukemia patients who no longer respond to drug treatment or experience multiple relapses; patients with hemoglobin disorders, bone marrow failure, and certain types of cancer including leukemia, tumor-like cancers, neuroblastoma, and benign tumors…
Unlike organ transplantation, where patients must take anti-rejection medication for life, bone marrow and stem cell transplants from family donors will only require immunosuppressive medication for 18 months.
After this period, patients can live normally.
Currently, the National Children’s Hospital has equipped a system of machinery for performing bone marrow and stem cell transplantation techniques from Germany and the United States. Every year, hundreds of children need bone marrow and stem cell transplants, primarily those suffering from blood cancers.
It is anticipated that the hospital will perform 20 to 30 transplants per year.
The hospital will waive transplant costs for the first 3 to 5 transplant cases.
Currently, the method of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation for children has only been implemented in a few countries in the region, while in Vietnam, it has only been performed for adults at Hospital 108 and the Central Hospital in Hue…
Le Ha
