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Spectrum
Health Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Program Offers Treatment Closer To Home
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April
3, 2013 –
West Michigan adults who need a blood or bone marrow transplant (BMT) to help
them in their fight against cancer can now receive treatment nearer to home.
The
new Spectrum Health Adult BMT Program began performing
transplants on February 25, 2013. The third BMT patient, Kevin VanZanten, 34,
of Allendale, is scheduled to receive his transplant later today. Spectrum
Health anticipates performing up to 50 adult transplants in the next year.
VanZanten
will share his thoughts about his upcoming procedure in a Google+ Hangout today at 10 a.m.
EST.
There
are four adult BMT programs in Michigan. Spectrum Health offers the only adult
BMT program in the western half of Michigan. While this is the first adult
program in the area, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has been providing blood
and marrow transplants since 1998.
The
transplants are a treatment option for patients who have cancer, immune system
disorders, metabolic disease and other life-threatening conditions. The adult
program BMTs are performed by Stephanie F. Williams, MD, division chief, adult blood
and marrow transplant program, Spectrum Health Medical Group.
“Spectrum
Health is initially focusing on doing transplants for patients with lymphoma,
leukemia, multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS),” said Dr. Williams.
“A transplant offers many of these patients real hope to get back to their
lives.”
So
far, the BMT patients have received autologous transplants, meaning that their
own blood stem cells are used. Unrelated, or allogeneic, transplants are
expected to begin later this year.
A local
program for adults has been welcomed by patients awaiting a transplant.
“The typical patient can spend up to a month in the hospital. They
continue their recovery in a protected environment for another two months and
then return frequently for check-ups,” explains Williams. “This is a tough
experience to go through alone. Having to travel far and stay away so long
after a transplant has been emotionally difficult, disruptive and expensive for
our cancer patients and their families.”
According to Lee Ann Weitekamp, MD, vice president, quality and medical services, Michigan Blood, “Our staff and specialty laboratories provide tissue typing for patients and potential donors, special blood components to meet patients’ needs during the transplant process, blood stem cell collection through the apheresis process and the processing, labeling, freezing, and storage of blood stem cells for future transplantation.”
Michigan Blood also operates Michigan’s first public cord bank, one of 20 in the nation, and is affiliated with the National Marrow Donor Program’s (NMDP) Be the Match® Registry.
“Patients turn to the Registry for help in finding a donor match when they cannot do autologous transplant or one from a family member,” explained Dr. Weitekamp.
“West Michigan is extremely fortunate to have the Spectrum Health Adult BMT Program available in our community. Our team has worked closely with both the adult and pediatric BMT specialists to provide blood stem cell matches. We have observed first-hand the benefit to patients and their families of having this exceptional, high level of treatment available in our community, rather than having to travel longer distances.”
The multidisciplinary BMT team at Spectrum Health evaluates adult
recipients for blood and marrow transplantation and provides care before,
during and after transplant.
Dr. Williams started building the adult BMT program, which involves
everyone from specially-trained infusion nurses to quality specialists, soon
after joining Spectrum Health last September.
The pediatric BMT program at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital is under
the direction of Aly Abdel-Mageed, MD, and Ulrich Duffner, MD. It is one of
three in Michigan and is also the only program in the western half of the
state.
Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 700 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with 19,000 employees. The organization provided $204 million in community benefit during its 2012 fiscal year.
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