Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 26 September (BelTA) – Transplantation is among the fastest-developing medical sciences in Belarus, Healthcare Minister of Belarus Vasily Zharko said at the First Eurasian Congress “Stem Cell Transplantation” on 26 September, BelTA has learnt.

“Transplantation is the pinnacle of technological progress in medicine. It has evolved into one of the fastest-developing healthcare sciences in Belarus. Transplantation technologies are broadly used in various branches of medicine; bone marrow transplantation is now a therapeutic standard in hematology,” Vasily Zharko said.

According to the Healthcare Minister, the range of diseases that can be cured by stem cell transplantations has increased considerably in recent years. Stem cells can treat malignant neoplasms, various forms of leukemia and other blood diseases. International protocols have been developed to treat disseminated sclerosis using stem cells. Medical professionals are now studying a possibility to use stem cells to treat myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Stem cells have proved efficient in treating severe hereditary and acquired diseases, namely, diseases of hear, liver, gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and endocrine system, as well as neurological, urogenital and locomotor diseases. It is important that transplantation gives an additional impetus to the development of other medical sciences, like hematology, immunology, genetics, surgery, emergency care and anesthesiology, and medicine in general.

Since 1993 the National Center for Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation has conducted about 1,000 transplantations of bone marrow and blood stem cells. Since 1998 the National Research Center for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology has conducted over 650 stem cell transplantations in children.

Thanks to the active use of stem cell technologies, Belarus has managed to reduce the number of deaths from blood diseases. In 2007-2012 the number of people who died of hemoblastosis shrank by 19%. Remission rate in patients diagnosed with acute leukemia and treated in central hospitals has neared 80%. The general five-year survival rate of hemoblastosis patients has reached 60%, which is the same as the European average.

The First Eurasian Congress “Stem Cell Transplantation” is taking place in Minsk on 25-27 September. The forum is timed to the 20^th anniversary of the first bone marrow transplantation conducted in Belarus. Taking part in the congress are specialists from the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Czechia, Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.