Blood cancer patients can now access a stem cell transplant service on the Coast instead of travelling to Brisbane for the advanced treatment.
In a first for the region, the Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH) is now delivering autologous stem cell transplantation, which is a complex treatment that uses a person’s own stem cells to help keep the cancer from coming back after chemotherapy.
Several lymphoma and myeloma patients are diagnosed in the region each month, with Sunshine Coast Health expecting to treat about 30 local patients each year.
Lymphoma refers to cancers that begin in the lymphatic system, which is part of the body’s immune defence. This system plays a vital role in fighting infections as it involves lymph nodes, spleen, thymus and bone marrow.
Myeloma is a cancer that arises from plasma cells, which are a type of white blood cell responsible for producing antibodies that help fight infection.
Sunshine Coast Health director of haematology Professor Craig Wallington-Gates said the treatment was set to help a growing number of blood cancer patients in our region, saving them from travelling to Brisbane.
“To deliver this service on the Sunshine Coast is a tremendous advance for our population,” he said.
Professor Wallington-Gates said the treatment process began after the patient had already undergone some chemotherapy and started with 10 days of hormone intake.
“This is to push out the blood-forming stem cells from the bone marrow so they circulate in the blood and these stem cells are parental cells, they’re capable of making all of your blood from scratch again,” he said.
“We collect them in a procedure called apheresis, where the patient comes in, is hooked up to a machine – blood goes into the machine, the stem cells are collected and then the blood returns to the patient.”
Those stem cells are then frozen in liquid nitrogen, ready for use at a later date.
“We then bring the patient back into hospital, give them some chemotherapy to wipe out their bone marrow function so they can’t make blood anymore and wipe out any residual cancer,” he said.
“The next day, we reinfuse their frozen stem cells just through the drip and over a two-week period they find their way back to the bone marrow, anchor themself down and make blood from scratch – so all the red cells, white cells and platelets – and the idea is hopefully cancer-free.”
Coast resident Gary Taylor is one of the first patients to be treated for myeloma through the new service at SCUH.
“It’s great isn’t it, I didn’t want to go to Brisbane, it’s an hour and 20 minutes sometimes with the traffic, especially because we only live up the road from SCUH as well, it’s a lot better,” he said.
“Basically here you come here, within an hour after you’re done and dusted, you can get back to work or whatever you’re going to do, but it would be a whole day in Brisbane.”
Mr Taylor said another major benefit was the continuity of care.
“It’s the same doctor I see here so he knows my history and stuff rather than seeing someone else down there,” he said.
