Another Great Success for the Medical Community

The transplantation of stem cells for Hepatoblastoma, one of the most common malignant tumors in the liver, has been successfully completed for the first time in Iran by the specialists at the MAHAK Children Cancer Hospital & Research Center (MCCHRC).

Hepatoblastoma tumor is the most common malignant cancerous liver tumor in children with the patient possessing up to 70% chance of survival if detected in early stages and known treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy are applied soon thereafter.  In cases where the patient is in advanced stage of the growth of cancer at the point of diagnosis or during treatment, or metastases has taken place to lungs and/or bone and bone marrow, the chance of successful treatment will be significantly lower.  Other than surgery and chemotherapy, stem cell transplantation is another method of intervention available.

According to medical articles and news releases, by the beginning of the 2014 calendar year, there have only been twenty one cases in the world of children diagnosed with liver cancer which have successfully been treated via the use of stem cell transplantation.  This procedure has only been performed successfully in 4 countries around the globe including United States of America, Italy, Japan and now Iran.

Arian, an 18 month-old boy, who was diagnosed with malignant Hepatoblastoma at the age of 6 months, underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy treatments. Since the disease had already spread to bone marrow, he underwent the stem cell transplantation procedure in MAHAK Specialized Cancer Hospital on the 17th of November 2013.

The stem cell transplantation for Hepatoblastoma was performed for the very first time in Iran.  Due to the light weight of the patient who was only 10kg at the time, collecting stem cells for this weight class was an unique accomplishment.

Arian is feeling well and was discharged from MAHAK hospital on January 18, 2014 from the MAHAK Hospital.  We would like to congratulate this world-scale accomplishment to the MAHAK family, and all others who have supported children with cancer during every step of the ordeal.