Stem cell transplant cures cancer in children

For the first time at the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, doctors successfully performed a hematopoietic stem cell transplant on a child patient.

Nam Truong is healthy after more than 1 month of receiving a stem cell transplant. Photo: VT

On December 24, Dr. Bach Quoc Khanh - Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion said that the first allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant at the hospital for a pediatric patient was successfully performed.

The patient is Nguyen Dinh Nam Truong (10 years old, Hanoi). Truong had leukemia, which was discovered in 2011 and has been undergoing cancer treatment. After receiving chemotherapy at the Pediatrics Department of the Institute, Truong's condition improved, but in September 2013, the disease relapsed.

After the treatment was stable, the doctors thought of a stem cell transplant to prevent the risk of the child's illness recurring. After conducting tests on the stem cell donor, his brother (23 years old), the doctors decided to perform an allogeneic stem cell transplant on the child patient Nam Truong.

MSc. Dr. Vo Thi Thanh Binh - Head of Stem Cell Transplantation Department - said: After more than 30 days of stem cell transplantation, the patient's health has clinically stabilized. Blood tests have returned to normal, bone marrow tests have not detected any malignant cells in the bone marrow. In particular, the test results to evaluate the phenomenon of new graft growth from the donor in the recipient also reached 100%.

Thus, up to this point, the Central Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion has successfully performed 97 stem cell transplants to treat blood diseases, in which patient Truong is the first case to receive an allogeneic stem cell transplant.

Dr. Khanh said that the biggest difficulty in allogeneic stem cell transplants is the lack of suitable stem cell donors (this rate is usually only 25 - 30%). Therefore, the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion is currently implementing an umbilical cord blood bank in the community to provide a source of stem cells for patients indicated for allogeneic stem cell transplants.

According to Dan Tri