Haematological Illnesses - What Can Be Done
Diseases of the blood may come in different forms. Among the diseases that can be classified here are leukaemia, lymphomas and myelodyplastic disorders.
Leukaemia is a white blood cell malignancy; the malignant cells originate from the marrow. In due course, it will replace the normal bone marrow and spill into the peripheral circulation and into other organs.
The lymphoma is a malignant disorder of the lymphatic cells. It can spread rapidly to other organs.
In myelodyplasia, early blood cells residing in the marrow became abnormal and could not mature. In due course, the patient will either developed acute leukaemia or marrow failure.
At Mount Elizabeth Hospital, we are able to provide comprehensive services to diagnose and treat them in the best way possible.
World Class Treatment
Our specialists will determine if the patient requires either general or specific treatments. The standard treatment regimes may include either chemotherapy alone, radiotherapy, or a combination of both.
At times, the use of biologic therapy like monoclonal antibody, interferons or even a stem cell transplant may be needed to provide high level of success.
With regard to haematopoietic stem cell transplants, the donors can come from several sources, such as from a sibling, an unrelated donor or from the umbilical cord blood from childbirth.
Haematopoietic stem cell transplant is an established treatment for many cases of haematological malignancies and some cases of life threatening non-malignant conditions. We are currently using the state of the art approach to the use of haematopoietic a stem cell in the treatment of these disorders; myeloablative approach for young patients and non-myeloablative approach for older patients or for those who are deemed unfit to undergo heavy doses of chemotherapy.
We are also well versed with the use of high dose chemotherapy and the use of peripheral blood stem cell transplant as a marrow rescue as in the treatment of myeloma, relapsed lymphoma and in certain solid tumours.
At present, we are exploring the use of allogeneic stem cell transplantation as a form of immunotherapy in advanced cases of solid pancreatic tumours, renal cell carcinomas, the colon and small cell lung cancer.
Other State-of-the-Art Techniques
Our specialists have found that certain auto-immune disorders, may also benefit from haematopoietic stem cell transplants. These auto-immune disorders include multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythromatosus, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis.
Related Services
Several important supportive services are available at the centre to facilitate treatment and to ensure the smooth recovery of the patients being treated.
Antibiotics, fluid replacement, blood transfusions, management of venous access etc are some of these supportive care services that are necessary to ensure good patient recovery.
Besides the collection of blood stem cells, the apheresis programme is another of our supportive care programme to ensure availability platelets to our post-chemotherapy or transplant patients.
