Success rate of blood cancer treatment drastically improving, seminar told

An estimated 1,240,000 blood cancer cases emerge annually worldwide, accounting for approximately 6 per cent of all the cancer cases. Meanwhile 720,000 people die of blood cancer every year, accounting for 7 per cent of the cancer deaths.

These statistics were shared by Dr Munira Borhany, haematologist and associate professor at the National Institute of Blood Diseases & Bone Marrow Transplant (NIBD) at a public awareness seminar held recently in collaboration with the Neurospinal & Cancer Care Postgraduate Institute.

The event was titled ‘Rising Burden of Blood Cancers in Pakistan’.

"Cancers of blood, bone marrow and lymphatic system are collectively referred to as blood cancers ranging from slow-growing to very aggressive. When the body's red blood cells, white blood cells or platelet production is unusual or abnormal, blood cancer develops. It normally begins in the bone marrow, which is responsible for the production of blood. The normal functioning, growth and development of blood cells that fight infection and make healthy blood cells are disrupted by this type of cancer. There are 137 types of blood cancers and related disorders,” she explained, adding that blood cancer was among the most common form of cancers to affect children and adolescents.

The haematologist said that the symptoms of blood cancer could be quite variable depending upon its type. The common symptoms included unexplained fatigue, fever, weakness, and tiredness which could be fast develop in conditions such as acute leukaemia. There may be bleeding manifestations, bone pains, occurrence of swellings in the entire body, loss of appetite, weight loss and abdominal pain, she added.

She said that in general, the symptoms could be quite non-specific such as flu-like symptoms to more dramatic ones such as bleeding manifestations and severe infection. Highlighting the efficacy of bone marrow transplant (BMT) for such patients, she said the BMT was a highly effective therapy and often the only hope for a cure or a longer life for patients with blood cancers.

Dr Munira explained BMT was a procedure to replace disordered bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells. Transplant physicians use this procedure to eliminate cancer or defective stem cells and restore a patient's blood and immune systems.

She added that not all patients with blood cancer required BMT. The need for a bone marrow transplant is evaluated case-wise based on the individual patients’s underlying diagnosis, treatment response and disease genetic profile. She informed the event that patients' response to treatment in cases of acute leukemia had improved, due to the cutting-edge genetic profiling technologies combined with innovative medication.

Highlighting the benefits of BMT, Dr Munira said the procedure had two major advantages over other forms of transplants — firstly, the donors did not lose any vital part of their body for life and secondly, the recipients had to take the immunosuppressive drug only for nine months.

The bone marrow transplant unit at the NIBD has successfully performed 750 BMT, including 690 allogeneic and 60 autologous blood stem cell transplants with the success rate of more than 80 per cent despite the pressure placed on the healthcare system due to Covid-19 pandemic as well as national economic crisis and escalation of the dollar value against the rupee, she said.

The expert said a bone marrow transplant surgery cost more than Rs4 million in Pakistan but the entire procedure was performed at the NIBD free of charge. She requested the industrial sector, philanthropists and NGOs to support the NIBD for this noble cause.

“Blood cancer treatment success rates are improving drastically, and patients are living longer than ever before. There are now various effective and targeted therapeutic agents that have been effective such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, bone marrow transplantation and immunotherapy in beating cancer. There is a better chance of a complete cure with early diagnosis,” she maintained.

Earlier, NIBD Chief Executive Officer Usama Sultan Shamsi told the seminar that there was a need for increasing awareness among the public as well as medical fraternity to help realise that blood cancer and related disorders were just another forms of disease with a potential for high cure rates provided that they were investigated properly and specific treatment instituted.