A young patient diagnosed with an extremely rare form of lymphoma received chemotherapy treatment in 2022. However, he experienced a relapse in several vital organs, including the liver. In a life-saving procedure at American Hospital Dubai, he received salvage chemotherapy treatment from Dr Faraz Khan, Consultant Hematologist and Medical Oncologist, enabling him to return to complete remission.
Salvage chemotherapy is used for patients with relapsed cancer and can include autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT).
Under the expert care of Dr Emmanouil Nikolousis, Consultant Hematologist & Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) expert at American Hospital Dubai, the patient was scheduled for an autologous stem cell transplant following international guidelines. Stem cell transplantation is a highly specialised life-saving procedure for certain malignant blood conditions, such as myeloma and lymphoma, as well as non-malignant conditions, including those unrelated to blood disorders like multiple sclerosis. The procedure’s success depends heavily on the expertise of a skilled and experienced bone marrow transplant team of healthcare professionals currently at American Hospital Dubai.
On January 16, 2024, the patient underwent intense chemotherapy to prepare his bone marrow to host the stem cells extracted prior to chemotherapy and reinfused into his body. In a typical scenario, stem cell infusion leads to the formation of new blood cells in the bone marrow within 12 to 14 days. Still, in this patient’s case, the engraftment or formation of new blood cells occurred within nine days of the stem cell infusion, significantly reducing the patient’s hospital stay.
