Vietnam Succeeds in Transplanting Non-relative Umbilical Cord Blood

Vietnamese doctors have successfully conducted a non-relative umbilical cord blood transplant for a 28-year patient with acute leukemia this week, marking it the first case so far, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported, citing the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) under the Ministry of Health. The transplant took place on December 30, 2014 for Hoang Thi Thuy Linh from the central province of Quang Binh. After three months of transplant, Ms. Linh has recovered and the umbilical cord blood cells are growing stably. The transplant costs nearly VND1 billion ($46,500), 50% of which was covered by the insurance firm. The NIHBT provided free umbilical cord blood stem cells worth VND300 million ($13,950). NIHBT Deputy Director PhD Bach Quoc Khanh said that transplant will help lengthen Linh’s life, highlighting that this measure offers hope to patients with blood disorders. Vietnam’s first cord blood stem cell bank was opened by the NIHBT in May 2014 to gather and store donations of umbilical cords for the purpose of treating blood disorders for people in need. Since then, the bank has stored nearly 1,000 samples of stem cells. Other than umbilical cords, stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells. (Vietnam News Agency Apr 2)