MD Gholamreza Bahoush, a hematologist-oncologist told reporters that the umbilical cord blood transplant to treat aplastic anemia had been carried out only once in the world; “Aplastic Anemia is a failure in bone where it does not produce enough number of blood cells; in normal anemia, the number of red blood cells is less than the normal level; however, in aplastic anemia, white blood cells and platelets are also low,” said he, “autologous transplants use a patient's own blood-forming stem cells; the operation of umbilical cord blood transplant on Carain, d boy of 6, was a magic and a great success in treatment of the disease using stem cells of the cord,” Bahoush asserted.
“After failed search for a matched donor, we found that Carain’s umbilical blood had been stored in the Royan Institute Blood Bank six years ago when he was born. This was a light in the darkness,” he told reporters. “A common concern in any transplant operation is transplant rejection, but since in Carain’s case, it was autologous, that potential barrier was ruled out automatically,” he accounted.
“Other oncologists believed the likelihood of success is very low and the operation totally impossible; however, after 6 months, the treatment process has succeeded, providing us with much hope on the overall success of the transplant once deemed hopeless,” Bahoush added. “Carain was referred to by his treating doctor to hospital with severe aplastic anemia with a failed marrow functioning; a protocol in marrow transplant is to use the marrow of a sibling, which is called allogenic transplant,” said the oncologist.
“3 weeks after transplant, platelets returned to normal levels; this is crucial in any umbilical cord blood transplant. After a month, test results was normal,” Bahoush rejoiced to say.
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