Doctors at the Seattle Children’s hospital have managed to cure a young girl of cancer by using multiple stem cell transplants. The type of stem cell transplant they used was experimental and the positive outcome has excited researchers.
Preschooler Katie Belle was diagnosed with a very dangerous form of cancer called neuroblastoma. It is a type of cancer that triggers tumours in young children. The disease has a very poor prognosis with more than half of the children diagnosed with it dying within 5-years. Doctors told Katie’s parents that she only had a 35% chance of survival.
Katie had already undergone surgery to remove a large tumour from her stomach. Doctors had also discovered the cancer had metastasised throughout her body. She was classified as having stage 4 of the disease and her chances of survival were becoming progressively worse.
The paediatric oncologist treating Katie, Dr. Julie R. Park, suggested that she might be a viable candidate for a new stem cell transplant trial. The trial would use two transplants of the patient’s own stem cells in an effort to eradicate their cancer.
Before the first stem cell transplant could be performed, Katie had to undergo a very strong regiment of chemotherapy drugs. Those drugs carried some nasty side effects that Katie would have to deal with. She received the chemo, then within weeks she had received her first stem cell transplant. That was followed up with another dose of stem cells.
Six years later, Katie is in complete remission and enjoying life as a happy 3rd-grader. The revolutionary stem cell transplant technique is now the standard form of care for children with this form of cancer.
The trial that Katie was involved with included ran from 2007 to 2012 and involved more than 652 patients — 355 of which were children. Within three years, 61% of the patients who received two stem cell transplants were alive compared to 49% of those who received one stem cell transplant.
This exciting research has greatly increased the chances that children like Katie will survive their battle with cancer!
Source: Girl Cured of Cancer by Two Stem-Cell Transplants
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