New technique accurately diagnoses and effectively treats blood cancer

Getting married and having children after being cured of leukemia

New techniques in cancer diagnosis and treatment are always updated and applied at Bach Mai Hospital. In particular, the application of molecular biology and genetic testing technology helps to accurately determine the disease type, stratify risks and choose appropriate treatment methods.

PHOTO: BVCC

In the treatment of leukemia, new methods such as targeted drugs, immunotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation have been deployed and brought positive results.

The above information was announced by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Tung, Deputy Director of Bach Mai Hospital, at the scientific conference on Hematology - Blood Transfusion, organized by Bach Mai Hospital on August 9, with more than 1,000 experts and medical specialists attending directly and online.

According to Associate Professor Tung, with stem cell transplantation, after more than 10 years of implementation, the hospital has successfully performed 142 transplants, helping many patients recover and have a chance to live longer.

Among them, about 10 years ago, a 21-year-old male patient was diagnosed with acute leukemia and was cured after a stem cell transplant. After that, the young man got married, gave birth to a healthy child from sperm stored before treatment, and maintained stable health.

Gene therapy, immune cells kill malignant cells

"Gene therapy and cell therapy are the latest methods in diagnosing and treating blood cancer that are being gradually applied by the Hematology Center, Bach Mai Hospital and its partners, with synchronous conditions of human resources and modern equipment systems," Associate Professor Tung added.

According to Mr. Tung, advances in diagnosis are important for successful cancer treatment. Because hematological diseases, from benign to malignant, have diverse clinical manifestations, easily overlapping with symptoms of many other specialties, making diagnosis and treatment complicated.

Doctors have recorded many cases detected at a late stage, leading to difficulties in prognosis and long-term management.

According to information at the conference, Vietnam recorded about 10,525 new cases of hematological cancer per year, accounting for about 5.8% of the total number of new cancer cases. Of these, there were about 5,789 cases of leukemia, accounting for 3.2%; about 3,516 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for 1.9%; about 613 cases of Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for 0.34%; and about 607 cases of multiple myeloma, accounting for 0.34%.

Many hematological diseases such as multiple myeloma, lymphoma, myelofibrosis... tend to increase, especially in middle-aged and elderly people.