Double Stem-Cell Transplant Helps Children With Cancer Of Nervous System Improve Survival

Doubling the stem-cell transplant in children with high-risk neuroblastoma can yield better survival results in three years compared to a single transplant, according to a study on three-year-olds. Neuroblastoma is a cancer of the nervous system.

Science Daily reported that 61.8 percent of patients who had double stem-cell transplants using their own stem cells were alive and cancer-free after three years. This is higher than the 48.8 percent of survival and being free of the disease recorded for those who had only one stem-cell transplant.

Double Stem-Cell Transplant To Boost Survival

"Knowing that we can give two stem-cell transplants will allow doctors to give more chemotherapy, increasing the chances of success," Dr. Mark Gaze was quoted by Daily Mail as saying. Gaze is a consultant clinical oncologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

It was reported that the current practice in treating high-risk neuroblastoma was to give a single stem-cell transplant after chemotherapy. Survival rates for high-risk neuroblastoma were said to be between 30 and 40 percent. "Children are still more likely to die from neuroblastoma than not, so if we can improve outcomes it will make a big impact," said Gaze.

Immunotherapy Even Improved Outcome

Some children who were part of the study also underwent immunotherapy which yielded even better results, according to Health Day. Those who had immunotherapy and double stem-cell transplant had a 73.2 percent survival rate in three years. Those who had immunotherapy and single stem-cell transplant had a 55.5 percent survival rate.

"This finding will change the way we treat children with high-risk neuroblastoma in North America, which still claims many young lives and is in urgent need of better treatments," lead researcher Dr. Julie Park, was quoted as saying. Park is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle.