Shanghai sets the record for highest number of kids' stem cell transplants
Dr Chen Jing, director of hematology and oncology department of Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, hugs a boy who is recovering after receiving a stem cell transplant at the hospital.
A total of 80 families whose children received stem cell transplants from non-family donors gathered at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center to celebrate their recovery today.
The hospital announced that it has fulfilled over 1,000 stem cell transplants between child patients and non-family donors, the highest in the nation.
According to Dr Chen Jing, director of the hematology and oncology department of Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, stem cells can treat many blood diseases like leukemia and aplastic anemia, as well as other non-blood diseases like congenital immunodeficiency diseases and some inherited metabolic diseases.
Since 2000, the center has fulfilled 1,217 stem cell transplants, including 1,011 using stem cells from anonymous donors. About 97 percent of the transplants succeeded and 65 percent of patients have survived for over five years.
Also, the hospital announced they has teamed up with charity organizations to set up a charity fund to sponsor medical treatment for impoverished children with aplastic anemia.
The incidence of aplastic anemia in China is three in every one million people, two to three times higher than Western countries. Stem cell transplants are an effective cure for the disease, but many poor families can’t afford the treatment.
A mother and her son hug with a woman surnamed Luan, who donated stem cells to save the boy from aplastic anemia three years ago.
