Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Vietnam: Current Status and Future Directions

In recent years, there have been an increasing number of hematologic patients in Vietnam. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is fast becoming an effective method to cure many benign and malignant blood disorders. Nine transplant centers are operating throughout Vietnam. HCMC Blood Transfusion Hematology Hospital (BTH) is one of these centers where bone marrow, peripheral blood and cord blood stem cell transplantation were first conducted in our country. At BTH, half of the patients received allogeneic HSCT, mainly from matched sibling donors due to lack of a national bone marrow donor registry. While acute myeloid leukemia was a common indication of allogeneic HSCT, most of the patients undergoing autologous HSCT had multiple myeloma. One major issue we encountered concerned bacterial and fungal infections during neutropenia period. Because of an endemic area, CMV reactivation frequently occurred. Five-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were 47% and 46%, respectively. To create more opportunities for patients, our future directions will focus on some new transplant procedures, such as haploidentical, unrelated and cord blood transplantation.