The (announces to be the first hospital in Vietnam successfully conducting the during a press conference. (Photo: baotintuc.vn)
HCM City (VNA) – The HCM City
Hospital of Hematology and Blood Transfusion has become the first hospital in
Vietnam to successfully conduct the transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells
from .
In May, the hospital received a 25-year-old
female patient from the southern province of Ca Mau, who had suffered from juvenile
myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML), a rare blood disorder that occurs in young
people, according to the hospital’s director Phu Chi Dung. The only effective
treatment for her would be the transplant of hematopoietic stem cells, he said at a press conference
on November 16.
The hospital was not able to find a related donor
that has the HLA (Human leukocyte antigen) matching the patient, so it
contacted the Tzu Chi Stem Cells Centre in Taiwan (China) to seek a compatible
candidate. The centre found a compatible one in July and two months later, the
hospital performed the transplant.
The recipient is now on her 57th day after
the transplantation and she is in a good condition, Dung noted.
He added that the success marked a medical
breakthrough in Vietnam, giving a new hope to local cancer patients unable to
find a compatible related donor.
In Vietnam, each
surgery costs about 800 million VND, or 35,200 USD, 60 percent of which can be
covered by health insurance. The cost only accounts for one-tenth of that in
Singapore and one-fifth in Taiwan.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
