KUWAIT CITY, April 12: Head of the Department of Hematology and Pediatric Oncology and Head of the Stem Cell Transplant Unit at the National Bank of Kuwait Children’s Hospital, Dr. Sundus Al-Sharidah said about 100 cases of childhood tumors and about 60 cases of leukemia are recorded annually among children, reports Al- Jarida daily. In a press statement, she pointed out that the number of cancer cases in children are increasing and added that Kuwait provides the latest international chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in addition to immunotherapy. She stated that the treatment protocols were recently updated and started to be applied to patients. She added that five cases of leukemia relapses were initiated and positive successes were achieved.

Dr Al-Sharidah indicated that with regard to stem cell transplantation, there are 15 to 20 transplants annually that take place in accordance with international standards that are followed, especially after the center was affiliated with the European Commission for Marrow Blood Transplantation and key members of the International Center for Bone Marrow Transplantation and Blood Research (CIBMTR), where the system of stem cell transplantation for children has been expanded in the country.

Dr. Al-Sharidah said there is a constant update on the latest global developments related to stem cell transplantation treatments, pointing out that the (stem cell) program has made vast progress since its establishment more than two years and carried out 33 operations, including four cases of cell-transplantation and 29 cases from a donor with a full or half match for patients suffering from cancerous and non-cancerous diseases such as blood diseases and immunodeficiency. She explained that the Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Department at the National Bank of Kuwait Hospital is the only specialized department in the State of Kuwait for blood diseases, pediatric cancer and stem cell transplantation, due to the excellence of its specialized medical staff in this field since the beginning of providing this service in 2000.