骨髓移植病床 增9倍至170張

瑪麗去年獲205宗轉介,130宗成功完成幹細胞移植;由於醫管局已預計無法滿足未來需求,故計劃未來2至3年,將全港17張幹細胞移植病床増至170張,為更多病人延續生命。

資料來源: 經濟日報(2011年5月16日)

女童根治腦癌 母感動落淚

儲臍帶 為保障加碼

【都市日報】近年愈來愈多父母為子女儲存臍帶血，務求為寶寶的健康設下保障。最近有臍帶血庫引入新儲存技術，將儲存服務擴大至臍帶中的兩種主要幹細胞，進一步增加治療的保障範圍。

相比起臍帶血，臍帶幹細胞應用仍屬起步階段，但本港大部分臍帶血庫已有提供臍帶儲存服務。一般而言，血庫會抽取臍帶中的間質幹細胞作儲存，但康盛人生(Cordlife)臍帶血庫最近引入最新臍帶處理技術，可從臍帶中同時抽取上皮幹細胞作儲存，以擴大治療潛能。

康盛人生臍帶血庫總經理張慧儀表示，目前已有超過140項臨牀試驗顯示，間質幹細胞和上皮幹細胞對治療身體內的疾病以致愈合傷口，都有幫助。「臍帶血主要用作治療血液有關的疾病，但臍帶幹細胞則可修復多種軟組織或器官，潛在的用途範圍更廣。」

臍帶潛在治療用途廣泛

張表示，父母可以選擇只儲存間質幹細胞或間質加上皮幹細胞，費用由22,500元起。父母可最遲於分娩期前1個月登記臍血或臍帶儲存服務，惟需注意患有丙型肝炎、愛滋病、癌症或某些遺傳病的婦女，都不宜接受有關服務。

臍血與臍帶功效比較

●臍帶血幹細胞

(確認治療用途)白血病、淋巴癌、地中海貧血、代謝疾病等超過80種疾病。

(潛在治療用途)腦痳痹、一型糖尿病、心臟病、中風等。

臍帶幹細胞

●間質幹細胞

(潛在治療用途)修復結構性組織和器官如骨骼、軟骨和肌肉、結合造血幹細胞縮短植入時間、具免疫調節作用。

●上皮幹細胞

(潛在治療用途)修復因潰瘍、燒傷或創傷而受損的皮膚及軟組織，再生器官如角膜、肝臟、胰腺等。

資料來源:都市日報(2011年5月6日)

臍帶血細胞醫癱瘓見曙光

脊髓受損導致癱瘓的病人將現康復曙光。香港大學及中文大學聯同中國脊髓損傷研究協作組，攜手進行全球首次臍帶血細胞髓內移植臨床治療，現已有七名脊髓受損 病人接受治療，正招募更多病人參與。一名下半身癱瘓十多年的病人接受該治療後，無知覺的身體部分受刺激後出現非持續的反應，但仍需接受長遠觀察和評估，才 可確定成效。

據衞生署二○○○年資料，本港有四百五十二名脊髓損傷患者。研究團隊計劃招募二十名癱瘓病人接受治療，目的是評估該手術的安全性及可行性，去年十一月至今已為七名病人進行手術，患者術後將被觀察一年以評估治療的安全性及效果。

術後癱瘓部位有間歇反應

中國脊髓損傷研究協作組董事會聯席主席蘇國輝解釋，脊髓受創令神經纖維及細胞受損，損傷位置有缺口，治療方案是打入匹配的臍帶 血單個核細胞至缺口，刺激脊髓生長，橋接受損部位。他說，臍帶血中含有比骨髓更多的幹細胞，在不少研究中已證實可促進脊髓損傷的動物恢復或改善功能。

港大外科學系助理教授梁嘉傑稱，二十位病人會分成五組，注射不同劑量的臍帶血單核細胞，評估成效及安全性。他稱，其中一名下半身癱瘓了十多年的患者 接受手術兩個月，癱瘓部位對外來刺激有非持續性的間歇性反應，但暫不肯定是否跟手術有關，仍需接受更長久的觀察。蘇國輝稱，團隊正籌劃下一期對四百名病人 進行治療，以獲取更多數據作分析研究。
卅多歲的莊濤十八年前遇交通意外致下半身癱瘓，自此出入依靠輪椅，他得知兩間大學招募病人後不加考慮便參與，「始終都坐咗咁多年輪 椅。」他今年二月接受臍帶血細胞髓內移植手術，暫未有任何不良反應，「對我嚟講今次係一個希望，冇諗過行唔行得番，希望有改善，好番三成已好開心。」

資料來源: 東方日報 (2011年4月21日)

「福島50人」死守核電站，至今已有28人證實受到輻射污染，部分「死士」遭受的輻射量，更相當於普通人一年的200倍。高輻射會破壞負責造血的骨髓細胞，嚴重的更會導致血癌。目前電療證實可以殺死腫瘤，但同時亦會殃及骨髓，抑制造血功能。治療方法是移植血液幹細胞，不過等待他人捐贈卻相當費時，也可能出現排斥現象。

日本一批癌症專家包括東京「虎門醫院」和「日本癌症研究基金會」等四所著名醫學機構的癌症專家，在14日刊出的《刺針》（The Lancet）上載一封信，建議為福島核電站員工抽取並儲存血液幹細胞，希望為福島核電站員工抽取幹細胞，以備輻射影響其造血能力時，可用作自救。

資料來源: 成報,2011年4月19日

科大港美專組支援血癌女生

 【明報專訊】科大二年級生羅葆泳1月初前往美國交流期間不幸患上急性血癌，目前仍在當地留醫。父親羅啟安昨與葆泳所屬科大機械工程學系系主任袁銘輝會面個半小時，會上袁銘輝提出多項建議，包括在香港和美國兩地為葆泳組織支援小組、在港邀請血科專家就葆泳的病情給予意見等。

葆泳出院 回宿舍休養
會上羅啟安表示，葆泳正服用催生白血球的藥物，病情仍未穩定，間中嘔吐，她已暫時出院與母親同住在宿舍休養，每日返回醫院覆診。他續稱，初步搜尋骨 髓後全球只有少數人骨髓脗合，故傾向移植臍帶血，礙於本港甚少為成人進行相關手術，希望留在美國接受移植，估計手術後需留院休養約2至3個月。

袁銘輝在會上表示，過去曾教葆泳其中一科，形容她十分勤力，「每次上堂都坐第一排，將來前途無可限量」。他又指葆泳個案特殊，校方協調需時，日後將由他統籌，科大將組織數名交流生或舊生，在美國直接協助羅太解決日常生活所需及支持葆泳，另在校內成立支援小組協助羅父。
另外，袁銘輝說，校長陳繁昌去信美國明尼蘇達大學校長後，對方已指派專人跟進事件，他目前正與對方跟進保險賠償事宜，包括研究移植骨髓或臍帶血的手 術費用是否可獲賠償，稍後將再按需要研究是否發起籌款。羅啟安會後表示，今次獲科大協助令他放下心頭大石，希望有更多市民登記捐骨髓，增加葆泳尋獲合適骨 髓的機會。

資料來源: 明報專訊

Cord Blood Cures Baby’s Grapefruit-Sized Tumor

 Jamie Page and her husband, Ben, discussed the issue of banking their newborn’s cord blood so frequently before the birth that they finally decided if they didn’t do it, it might be the biggest regret they ever had.

“Medical advances change so quickly. Who knows when this child is 10, 20 years old if she’ll need it,” Page said. “It’s a great medical backup to have.”

It turns out the Pages, who live in Schaumburg, Ill., were absolutely right to save the cord blood.

Page had a normal pregnancy and her daughter, Harlow, was born seemingly healthy on March 19, 2008. But after two weeks, the Pages noticed she was crying a lot and seemed uncomfortable – and it just got worse.

“We were told it was probably just colic, to try different formulas, different ways of putting her to bed,” Page said. “At first I thought they were right. We must have tried six or seven different types of formula and we put gas drops in it, but she was pulling at her stomach . . . I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was.”

When Harlow was just 3 months old, her stomach became distended and she stopped having wet diapers. The Pages ended up in the emergency room, and tests revealed every parent’s worst nightmare: A grapefruit-sized mass was blocking Harlow’s kidney. Doctors quickly inserted a catheter and did a biopsy, which was sent out to several pathologists across the country.

“We were in the hospital for five or six days, letting her kidneys recover, and it was the craziest thing,” Jamie Page said. “In two days, we got four different pathologies – they all had different diagnoses. It resembled different cancers, but nothing they had ever seen before.”

There were no answers for the Pages – doctors didn’t know how to treat Harlow’s cancers, or what her prognosis was. A few pediatric oncologists in nearby Chicago decided it resembled a rare brain cancer, and it should be treated as such – so chemotherapy was the best protocol.

“We were so scared,” Page said. “My dad went through chemo for lung cancer, and it made him much more sick than helping him, we didn’t want to torture her. We just wanted her to be comfortable. At the time, doctors said she only had a few weeks to a few months to live.”

Ultimately, it was Harlow who decided for her parents. Her smile, despite how sick she was, made her parents think, ‘How can we not give this little girl a chance to fight?’

That’s when the Pages asked their doctors about a stem cell transplant. But the doctors were surprised – few families have their own supply of cord blood, they said, and it’s hard to find a match.

That’s when things started looking up for Harlow Page.

The Future of Medicine

After three rounds of chemotherapy, the doctors decided the tumor had shrunk enough for them to go in and remove it surgically, but when they cut Harlow’s abdomen open, the tumor was completely gone.

“We went in thinking she might’ve needed a hysterectomy,” Page said. “All she had left was scar tissue. They called in more surgeons to make sure they were looking in the right place. We were thrilled.”

Because the tumor was so aggressive, a stem cell transplant made sense – it was Harlow’s best option of ensuring that the tumor did not grow back. Still, she would need a double transplant.

The Pages met with the hospital's stem cell transplant team, which included Alexis Baby, a pediatric nurse practitioner.

“As of right now, there is a good prognosis,” Baby said about Harlow. “As each year passes, there is a big step toward relapse-free survival.”

So after five days of intense chemo – at higher rates than previously given – Harlow’s current cells were killed off. On the sixth day, she rested in an isolation room and on the seventh, they started the infusion. By this time, Harlow was 9 months old.

She spent 25 days in isolation to avoid any germs, but got to go home for two weeks before coming back to the hospital for her second round. Because she didn’t have enough of her own stem cells for that round, doctors had harvested her blood earlier and used that.

“As grueling as it was, she was getting her own stem cells,” Page said. “She didn’t need to be on anti-rejection pills like other kids. Some families had to worry about host vs. graft disease. We had enough concerns without worrying about her fighting her own body.”

Cord blood stem cells that are saved at birth are collected from the baby’s umbilical cord with a syringe – and the child does not feel a thing, unlike painful bone marrow extractions. Parents send the cells to a cord blood bank of their choice, where the cells can be stored indefinitely.

The price for banking cord blood varies depending on the company, but the procedure costs around $2,000 to $3,000 (this depends on whether or not you've saved the baby's cord blood tissue), plus an annual storage fee of about $125. 

However, if you feel cord blood banking is too expensive an option for you, Baby urges parents to donate their newborn’s cord blood to a public bank, so it can be available for someone else who might need it.

“Otherwise, it's medical waste, and it’s just thrown away,” Baby said. “There is an option to donate it, but a lot of people don’t know about that, so it’s really unfortunate.”

Science has shown that cord blood stem cells are smarter than average cells: Once they are reinfused into the body, the cells migrate to the injured spot and immediately start the healing process.

Other advantages to using cord blood cells – besides not worrying about rejection – include the fact that the cells are younger and have not yet been exposed to any chemical or environmental factors, Baby said.

Doctors are constantly researching how cord blood can treat patients. Studies are being conducted on cord blood stem cells and their effects on brain injuries, Type I diabetes, neurology and cardiology – and that’s just the tipping point. Doctors think cord blood could be the future of medicine.

Harlow was released from the hospital in February 2009 – almost one year after she was born. Her parents had to literally teach her to swallow and eat again, because she had been nauseous for so long and had skipped solid foods. But by June 2009, she stopped taking all medications, and in September of that year, she was allowed to start attending day care.

Harlow has no recollection of being sick, and is a typical 3-year-old: She loves dancing, singing, gymnastics and watching her favorite movie, “101 Dalmatians.”

“I want to encourage other parents to save their child’s cord blood,” Page said. “I tell all our families and friends it’s the cheapest life insurance you’ll ever buy, and it’s an amazing opportunity for your child. To look at her, you’d never know, which is the best part of all.”

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/03/28/cord-blood-cures-babys-grapefruit-sized-tumor/#ixzz1I9AELs9T