Doctors from Hanoi-based Vinmec International Hospital, Vietnam’s largest private hospital, on March 21 conducted stem-cell transplant for a one-year-old boy to help him overcome the effects of cerebral palsy (brain paralysis). The operation has been the first of its kind performed in Vietnam to date and doctors will continue the therapy until the patient starts to recover, local newswire VnExpress reported. The boy, from the central province of Thanh Hoa, has been suffering from the ailment since he was 10 months old. He was first treated for sepsis (blood poisoning), which was accompanied by diarrhea, high fever and convulsions and left him with a brain starved of oxygen. This caused body stiffening, breathing difficulties, problems in eating and sleeping as well as communicating - in other words, cerebral palsy. “The doctors said that my son was too young for acupuncture or traditional medicine, the usual forms of treatment in Vietnam. Stem-cell therapy became his last hope for recovery,” said Tuan, the baby’s father. Nguyen Thanh Liem, director of Vinmec Hospital, said that the stem cells came from the baby’s bone marrow. They were injected into his blood and spinal cord to replace or support the injured brain tissue. Four days after the injection, the patient still had muscle contractions, but they were less serious and frequent. He is scheduled to have a second injection of bone-marrow cells on March 28. The cost of stem-cell treatment ranges from $5,700 to $7,200 at the Vinmec hospital, which is now run by Vietnam’s leading property developer Vingroup (VIC). Following the stem cell breakthrough in treating diseases, the Vinmec hospital is preparing to treat another once incurable brain ailment, autism, which often leaves children unable to communicate properly. Mr. Liem said clinical trials of stem cell therapy on children with autism have been conducted in America, India and China. Results show that up to 70% showed varying degrees of recovery. This is considered promising as many as 200,000 Vietnamese children suffer from autism. Stem-cell therapy has been used in some countries to treat cerebral palsy, but it is being widely criticized by scientists in many developed countries at the same time. Developing new methods for gene therapy is a long process and requires cautious scientific assessment. (VnExpress Mar 25, Tien Phong – Pioneer Mar 26)
