First-ever successful stem cell transplant in Vietnam

Vietnam has successfully conducted the country's first-ever haploidentical stem cell transplant for a 21-year-old man, state-run Vietnam News reported on Tuesday. Specifically, doctors from southern Ho Chi Minh City-based Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion have conducted the haploidentical stem cell transplant for 21-year-old Cao Xuan Hiep from southern Dong Nai province in late April, and he was discharged from the hospital late last week after 28 days. According to the hospital director Phu Chi Dung, Hiep was hospitalized in early April with symptoms of exhaustion, high fever and anemia. With tests, the doctors diagnosed him with acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cell. Hiep's older sister, who half-matches his human leukocyte anti- gen (HLA) tissue type, agreed to donate a stem cell to her brother (HLAs are proteins found on most cells in the human body). Doctors had to preserve the donated stem cells in a chamber at minus 196 degrees Celsicus for 20 days before conducting the transplant procedure on April 25. Hiep left the hospital on May 24. Doctors are still monitoring Hiep for any side effects that could affect his liver, heart or lungs, and they said he would fully recover after six months to one year. His treatment cost 300 million VND (14,388 U.S. dollars), of which 70 percent was paid by health insurance. Haploidentical stem cell transplantation is said to be a treatment option for about 70 percent of patients who do not have an HLA-identical sibling donor.