Bone marrow transplantation is one of the main forms of treatment for patients with acute leukemia, a type of cancer that affects blood cells. However, many of these patients face a long wait in line for the procedure, which depends on the availability of a compatible donor and a suitable bed. This delay could cost many of them their lives, according to a survey by Hospital Moinhos de Vento, in Porto Alegre, published in the digital magazine Elsevier.
The study analyzed the time between the diagnosis of the disease and the transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCT), which are the cells responsible for producing blood and which can be obtained from the bone marrow or peripheral blood. HSCT is indicated to treat malignant and non-malignant diseases that affect the hematological, immunological and genetic systems.
The research involved patients who were waiting for HSCT through the Unified Health System (SUS) – some of them were treated at the Moinhos de Vento Hospital through the Mais TMO project, of the Support Program for Institutional Development of the SUS (Proadi-SUS), of the Ministry of Health . The average time between the diagnosis of acute leukemia and the transplant was 19 months, with six months on the waiting list. The study showed that this time had a negative influence on the survival of adult patients, especially if it lasted longer than three months. “Patients with more than a year in the queue die more than in a period of less than a year”, says the coordinator of the Hematological Therapy Unit at Hospital Moinhos de Vento and leader of the research, Cláudia Astigarraga.
Brazil has the third largest bank of bone marrow donors in the world, with more than six million registered volunteers. The time to find a compatible donor varies from two to four weeks and all patients who need HSCT have a related (relative) or unrelated (non-relative) donor. Despite this, there is a shortage of specialized beds for the procedure to be performed by the SUS, which generates a queue that can be fatal.
For Cláudia, it is necessary to invest more in public health to guarantee access to HSCT in a timely manner. “The issue is not just the bed, but the availability of a multidisciplinary team prepared for the treatment (doctors, nurses, psychologists, nutritionists). Professionals who know how to deal with the patient. It is a priority to invest in human resources and improve the transfer of resources by the SUS for this type of procedure”, she argues.
