The case is the first of its kind in the country.
This operation is an outstanding progress in the medicine field that paves the way for treatment for those with malignant tumor yet they can’t find proper related donor.
Before, the hospital received 25 year old man hailing from the Mekong delta province of Ca Mau on May 25. The young man was diagnosed to have juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) yet doctor can’t find related donors for compatibility.
The hospital started seeking donor in Tzu Chi Center in Taiwan ( China) on July 1 and the center July 14 announced to find one suitable donor with the Vietnamese man.
Accordingly, the Vietnamese hospital September 20 performed cell transplant on Ca Mau man with the cell stem provided by Tzu Chi center. The operation was performed with the observation of experts in the hospital.
At present, the man is stable. Test results showed that a binary indicator of complete (100%) donor chimerism and increasing percent of donor T cells were significantly associated with longer overall survival.
Hospital director Dr. Phu Chi Dung said that currently some malignant blood diseases is effectively cured with cell transplantation from healthy people.
There are two types of cell transplantation. An autologous transplant (or rescue) is a type of transplant that uses the person's own stem cells. These cells are collected in advance and returned at a later stage. They are used to replace stem cells that have been damaged by high doses of chemotherapy, used to treat the person's underlying disease. The method is applied for some patients and it may relapse.
Other type of cell transplantation is performed on those with malignant blood diseases while donors are relatives or unrelated donors.
The hospital has carried autologous cell transplantation since 1995 and faced difficulties in finding proper donors amongst relatives meanwhile there has been no cell bank from voluntary donors; as a result, patients must go abroad to find suitable donors.
In a bid to find suitable cell donation for transplant the hospital liaised with its partners including Tzu Chi center, which is one of biggest cell banks in Asia. The center supplies cell to clinics in 30 nations in the world; so far 4,498 people have been cured with donated cell from alien donors.
The hospital has signed an agreement with the center in April 15, 2016. Under the agreement, the center will conduct tests to find out donors who match with patients and supply the cell.
