As a lymphatic cancer patient moved out from his bacteria-free ward safe and sound on May 30, medical workers in northwestern Qinghai Province were pleased to announce their application of the technology of hemopoietic stem cell transplantation.
The treatment of Hou Wancheng, 52, was conducted in a hospital affiliated to the Qinghai Medical College and lasted more than a month.
Hospital president Xu Cunhe cited this as the first successful hemopoietic stem cell transplant in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, signaling advancement in the region's medical treatment technology.
Originally invented by foreign medical experts, the blood cell transplanting technology has been widely viewed as an effective weapon against malignant tumors, blood illnesses and transmissible diseases since the early 1990s.
However, similar medical research was not introduced into Qinghai province until early 2001 when the Qinghai Medical Collegeraised more than 2.4 million yuan (US$ 290,000) and put it toward the establishment of a special laboratory to study stem cell transplantation technology.
Since some 100 people in Qinghai are diagnosed with malignant tumors every year, Dr. Zhao Junhui of the hospital expressed the belief that the technical breakthrough could be very good news to tumor patients and would drive many pertinent sectors such as molecular biology, genetics and immunology.
(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2003)
