National Institute of Haematology - Blood Transfusion (NIHBT)

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NIHBT NEWS / Aug 2022: The bank now has an inventory of more than 5,500 cord blood donations for transplant and has expanded services to more hospitals in northern Vietnam. 

NIHBT NEWS / Aug 2015: Thalassemia patients first transplanted cord blood stem cells at the Institute

This morning, 08/12/2015, National Institute of Haematology - Central Blood Transfusion has conducted a cord blood stem cell transplant for pediatric patient Chen Jiaxing, a 3 year old native of Henan. This is the first time the Institute performed a stem cell transplant for pediatric congenital hemolytic disease (Thalassemia). This is also the 166th transplant of the Institute and the 4th transplant stem cells from cord blood.

Chen Jiaxing was receiving blood transfusions to treat Thalassemia at the Institute of Hematology - Central Blood Transfusion. The stem cells for his transplant came from the cord blood of his baby sister born two months ago.

Earlier, knowing of their son's Thalassemia disease, the couple Tran Ngoc Hoa in Henan chose to have a baby for the chance they might rescue their son.  With advanced laboratory techniques at the Institute of Hematology - Central Blood Transfusion, in the course of pregnancy, doctors conducted amniocentesis to test two factors: One that the baby does not have the disease Thalassemia; two that the baby is in HLA harmony with the patient. The final results were good. Therefore, after birth, the family has decided to use the cord blood sample of the baby girl to transplant her brother.
 
According to Dr. Tran Ngoc Que - deputy director of the Center for Stem Cell Institute: Stem cells from cord blood give the transplant patient much better results than other stem cell sources.

MSc. BS. Nguyen Ba Khanh, Stem Cell Center of Hematology Institute - Central Blood Transfusion said: If a Thalassemia patient does not have a stem cell transplant, the prognosis is very bad, especially lifelong blood transfusions, besides which patients will experience some complications like iron overload (from repeated blood transfusions), the risk of infectious diseases, and organ failures such as liver, spleen, kidney.

The transplant outcome was fairly favorable, after transplant the patient's health was stable under strict monitoring in the intensive care room at the Institute.

This is a highly significant event, which is good news for patients with Thalassemia and opens up new opportunities in the treatment of Thalassemia in Vietnam, a country of over 10 million people living with the Thalassemia gene this evil monster.