Nghe An General Hospital: Promoting high-tech development for patient health

Stem cell transplantation for blood cancer treatment

On June 17, 2020, Ms. Cao Thi Ly (55 years old, Dien Trung commune, Dien Chau district) was officially discharged from the hospital after 2 years of active treatment for the terrible disease multiple myeloma. Ms. Ly was very happy because her health was gradually recovering rapidly. Ms. Ly said: In 2018, she felt pain and fatigue. After going to the district hospital for examination, after testing, the doctors here said that she was anemic and required hospitalization. After 1 week of treatment here, she was discharged from the hospital, but 3 days later she felt her health was deteriorating. This time, Ms. Ly asked to be transferred to the provincial General Hospital.

Ms. Cao Thi Ly (55 years old, Dien Trung commune, Dien Chau district) has recovered after 2 years of active treatment for the terrible disease multiple myeloma. Photo: Thanh Cuong

At Nghe An General Hospital, Ms. Cao Thi Ly was cured of some existing diseases such as colon pain and gastritis. Suspecting a blood-related disease, the provincial General Hospital suggested that she go to the Central Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion for testing. After 2 days of thorough testing at the Institute, Ms. Ly was diagnosed with multiple myeloma - a cancer of the cell line. The Central Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion asked her to be transferred to Hanoi for long-term treatment. When completing the procedure for transferring to a health insurance facility, Ms. Ly was informed that her home hospital could also provide treatment. Trusting the skills and qualifications of the hospital, Ms. Ly was determined to stay, fight and defeat the disease with the doctors there.

Ms. Cao Thi Ly's trust was well placed. From December 2018 to now, Ms. Ly has been persistently treated at the Department of Clinical Hematology, Nghe An General Hospital. Doctor Cu Nam Thang - Head of the Department of Clinical Hematology said: To treat patient Cao Thi Ly, the hospital applied the technique of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the treatment of leukemia. This technique has many stages. First, the patient is treated with 4-6 chemotherapy sessions. When the disease has completely regressed and meets the transplant criteria, the hospital will put it into the transplant plan.

Performing stem cell transplantation technique for patient Cao Thi Ly. Photo: PV

Next, the doctors will use chemicals and drugs to stimulate stem cells so that stem cells can be produced in the marrow and mobilized to the peripheral blood, then use an automatic machine system to extract stem cells from the patient and store them. The doctors will use high-dose chemicals to destroy the patient's marrow, which means destroying all malignant cells in the marrow, even benign cells, white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Next, the patient will be transfused with stem cells extracted from the peripheral blood, supported by drugs. During this process, the patient no longer has resistance, so they are taken to a special care room, ensuring sterility. After the transplant, from 6 to 12 days, the patient's marrow cells will grow back; from 12 to 20 days, the patient's indicators will gradually recover.

Doctor Cu Nam Thang confirmed: The process of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to treat multiple myeloma for patient Cao Thi Ly was completely in accordance with the initial prognosis. By the 20th day after the transplantation, all of patient Cao Thi Ly's indicators had returned to normal; the patient's clinical condition was stable; the patient was active in all activities and could be discharged from the hospital. It can be said that patient Cao Thi Ly has completely recovered.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huong - Director of Nghe An General Hospital advised patients who were cured of multiple myeloma on the necessary precautions in protecting and taking care of their health. Photo: Duc Anh

Before patient Cao Thi Ly, Nghe An General Hospital also cured another patient with multiple myeloma using this stem cell transplant technique. That patient is patient Cao Thi Thu (45 years old, Truong Thi ward, Vinh city). Patient Thu received stem cell transplant on March 17 and was discharged on April 16 in the joy and happiness of her family as well as the hospital's medical staff.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huong - Director of Nghe An General Hospital said: In order to be able to perform autologous stem cell transplantation in the treatment of leukemia, the hospital has received support from the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion to train human resources and transfer technology. The hospital has made efforts to fully prepare facilities and equipment to meet this technique. Autologous stem cell transplantation is a new, specialized technique in the field of hematology - blood transfusion that has been applied to treat leukemia patients in general, especially multiple myeloma and lymphoma. The hospital's mastery of this technique has opened up opportunities for many leukemia patients to be treated with new, advanced methods right at Nghe An General Hospital, reducing treatment and travel costs for patients.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huong - Director of Nghe An General Hospital presented flowers to congratulate the first patient with stem cell transplant for blood cancer treatment. Photo: Duc Anh

It is known that: Nghe An General Hospital is the first provincial hospital to be transferred the technique of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to treat leukemia and is also the only provincial hospital to date to master this technique. The cost of treating a patient with multiple myeloma with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is about 700 - 800 million VND. The treatment cost is 100% covered by health insurance.

Gold standard for stroke treatment

In June 2020, Nghe An General Hospital also received good news from its efforts to develop specialized techniques. Specifically, for the second consecutive time, the Stroke Center received the Gold Standard Certificate for Stroke Treatment from the World Stroke Association.

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa - Director of Stroke Center, Nghe An General Hospital shares treatment quality standards. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The World Stroke Association's gold treatment quality certification is a great honor. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa - Director of the Stroke Center, Nghe An General Hospital said: To achieve these standards, the hospital must satisfy many strict criteria on the process of emergency stroke treatment, the ability to train and educate human resources, diagnostic equipment, and coordination between related departments in the process of treating patients.

Specifically, the hospital must meet 7 criteria: Time from admission to recanalization treatment is under 60 minutes; recanalization treatment rate is 5-15%, out of the total number of hospitalized patients; rate of patients receiving MRI/CT Scanner is over 85%; rate of ischemic stroke patients using antiplatelet drugs upon discharge is over 80%; rate of atrial fibrillation patients receiving anticoagulant treatment upon discharge is over 80%; rate of patients screened for swallowing dysfunction in the stroke department is over 80%; stroke patients need to be treated in the Stroke Unit or Intensive Care Unit throughout the hospitalization.

Every year, Nghe An General Hospital receives and treats about 4,000 stroke patients, of which about 80% are stroke patients due to cerebral ischemia. Photo: Thanh Cuong

According to statistics, every year, Nghe An General Hospital receives and treats about 4,000 stroke patients, of which about 80% are stroke patients due to cerebral ischemia. In this group, about 5 - 10% of patients are hospitalized during the golden hour and receive recanalization treatment (thrombolytic drugs and vascular intervention)... On January 1, 2019, the Stroke Center of Nghe An General Hospital was established. Also in 2019, after registering to participate in the monitoring program of the World Stroke Association, the Stroke Center of Nghe An General Hospital updated patient treatment information regularly and continuously. Thanks to that, the quality of treatment is constantly improved.

Cerebral vascular intervention at the Provincial General Hospital. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa shared: Some criteria of the Stroke Center, Nghe An General Hospital exceed the gold standard and reach the platinum criteria of the World Stroke Association. For example, the criterion "time for patients to receive recanalization treatment from the time of admission" currently averages only about 40 minutes. In some cases, patients receive recanalization treatment less than 30 minutes after admission.

For acute stroke treatment, time is an extremely important factor, the sooner the treatment, the more the patient will benefit, improving the sequelae later. This recognizes the great efforts of the team of doctors, nurses and hospital staff in the emergency treatment of acute stroke. In addition, another important criterion is the rate of patients receiving recanalization treatment. Compared to the gold standard of 5%, Nghe An General Hospital has currently reached 8%.

Currently, the hospital is continuing to try to promote information and communication to the community about stroke, contributing to increasing the rate of patients receiving recanalization treatment, helping to further improve the quality of stroke patient treatment.

Dr. Pham Hong Phuong - Deputy Director of Nghe An General Hospital. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The event that the Stroke Center of Nghe An General Hospital achieved the gold standard certification in stroke treatment from the World Stroke Association has clearly affirmed that this is a trusted address in stroke treatment with quality approaching that of stroke centers around the world.

Up to now, the hospital has always considered the development of specialized techniques to improve the quality and effectiveness of treatment as the guiding principle for all activities. The Resolution of the Hospital Party Congress for the term 2020 - 2025 also continues to affirm: Developing specialized, multi-disciplinary, multi-field techniques to be worthy of the North Central Regional Hospital, a special-class hospital according to Resolution 26 of the Politburo.

In the coming years, the hospital will continue to maintain and improve previously developed techniques, for example: In 2020, the hospital will focus on three main areas: autologous stem cell transplantation, robotic surgery in spinal surgery and kidney transplantation. In the coming years, the hospital will continue to develop advanced techniques such as: heart surgery with small incisions; aortic replacement surgery in more complex locations such as the thoracic aorta, coronary artery bypass surgery; From applying robots in spinal surgery, the hospital will move towards applying robots in other surgical specialties; continue to develop the Center for Assisted Reproduction, striving to have 500 more children born by in vitro fertilization during its term; perform stem cell transplantation in the treatment of other cancers... Each year, the hospital will strive to develop 5-10 techniques from the Central level to improve the quality of treatment, meeting the increasing needs of medical examination and treatment of the people of the province and in the region.

Dr. Pham Hong Phuong - Deputy DirectorNghe An General Hospital