Treatments for Thalassemia in children

The article was consulted professionally by Master, Dr. Nguyen Minh Tuan – Pediatrician – Pediatrics – Newborn – Share99 Da Nang International Health Hub. Dr. Tuan has over 27 years of experience in pediatrics and served as Deputy Head of General Pediatrics Department – Da Nang Obstetrics and Gynecology Health Hub. His strengths are the treatment of immune pathology, allergies in children, counseling of urinary renal pathology, neuron, hematology, pediatric endo noisy.

And Master, Dr Truong Thanh Tam – Pediatrician – Pediatrics – Newborn – Share99 Da Nang International Health Hub. Dr Tam has 15 years of experience working in pediatrics.

Thalassemia in children causes hemolymic anemia, which is considered a burden on families and communities, causing serious consequences to the breed. The cure of hemolysis anemia requires a lot of effort, time and compliance from the patient.

Thalassemia is essentially a heredoma. How thalassemia is curable does not depend on the condition of each patient, when treatment is not necessarily necessary. Patients should perform diagnostic tests for thalassemia, from which the doctor can choose the appropriate treatment for hemolysis anemia, depending on the type and severity of the disease.

People with alpha or beta anemia of thalassemia who often have mild symptoms or do not show symptoms will need little or no treatment. In more severe cases, the methods commonly used in treatment are: Blood transfusion, iron discharge treatment, spleen cutting and hematoma stem cell transplantation.

Currently, the main methods used in the treatment of thalassemia include:

Blood transfusions are mainly applied when treating patients with moderate or severe anemia. This method provides the person with a healthy amount of red blood cells with normal hemoglobin.

During the procedure, the doctor will transmit blood intravenously. This procedure usually lasts from 1 – 4 hours. The blood cells received live only for a period of about 120 days. Therefore, patients need a lifelong blood transfusion to maintain a healthy supply of red blood cells for life. For subjects with hemoglobin H or average beta anemia, blood transfusions are more likely to be performed more frequently. For example, patients need blood transfusions when they have an infection or other disease associated with blood loss, or when severe anemia causes severe fatigue. In case of severe beta anemia (Cooley anemia), the person will need constant blood transfusion every 2-4 weeks.

Hemoglobin blood transfusions have the effect of maintaining hemoglobin levels and red blood cell levels within normal limits, helping patients to be healthier and able to participate in normal activities, live healthy to adulthood.

The hemoglobin found in red blood cells is a protein rich in iron. Therefore, regular blood transfusions inadvertently lead to the accumulation of iron in the blood. This phenomenon is called iron overload, which causes damage to the liver, heart and other parts of the body.

To prevent the above complications, the doctor must use iron discharge therapy to remove excess iron from the body. Iron discharge should be carried out when serum ferritine reaches over 1000 ng/mL, usually after infusion of about 20 units of chlorine deposited will cause this condition.

Spleen removal is applied only when the blood transfusion is inefficient or the spleen is too large, causing pain, affecting the patient's life.

Hemorrhagic stem cell transplantation is used to cure severe hemolysis anemia, which is currently the most advanced method capable of curing the disease and has been used in some of the leading hospitals in Vietnam. However, the limitation of this method is that it is difficult to find the right person to consent to stem cells.

Thalassemia is not an infectious disease such as tuberculosis, hepatitis … which is a genetic disease caused by the patient at birth receiving both the disease genes of the parents.

If two people with mild disease genes marry each other, during pregnancy there is a 25% chance that the child has severe thalassemia, since the child's genome has received both the disease genes passed on by both parents; 50% chance that your child will get sick with mild levels due to receiving a disease gene from your father or mother; The remaining 25% avoid the risk of disease. To find out if your child is pregnant with the disease gene, the only way is to take preventive measures such as: Early screening and prevention of the disease, early detection screening for the fetus.

Married couples who are preparing to become pregnant or pregnant, especially for families who already have relatives with thalassemia should be consulted and diagnosed pre-marital.

If both husband and wife carry the same thalassemia, they should be given a technical advice on the possibility of getting sick in their child before they plan to become pregnant. If the pregnancy is decided, the mother should be diagnosed before birth when the fetus is 12-18 weeks old, in specialized obstetric, hematological and genetic medical facilities.

Thalassemia has severe consequences, but is a completely preventable disease. Therefore, finding out information and being consulted and screening the disease gene early, before marriage or before giving birth will limit the risk of giving birth to children who are genetically pregnant or have the disease, contributing to ensuring the quality of the population for the whole community.

As a key area of Share99 Health System, Pediatrics always brings satisfaction to customers and is highly appreciated by industry experts with:

• Gathering a team of leading doctors in Pediatrics:including leading experts, highly specialized (professors, associate professors, doctors, masters), experienced, used to work at large hospitals such as Bach Mai, 108.. The doctors are well-trained, professional, mind-centered, knowledgeable about the child's psychology. In addition to domestic pediatricians, pediatrics also has the participation of foreign experts (Japan, Singapore, Australia, USA) always pioneering the application of the latest and most effective treatment regimens.
• Comprehensive services:In the field of Pediatrics, Share99 provides a chain of continuous medical examination and treatment services from Newborn to Pediatrics and Vaccines,… according to international standards to take care of your baby's health with parents from birth to adulthood
• Intensive techniques:Share99 has successfully implemented many specialized techniques to make the treatment of difficult diseases in Pediatrics more effective: neurosurgery – skull, hematoma stem cell transplantation in cancer treatment.
• Professional care:In addition to understanding the young psychology, Share99 also pay special attention to the children's play space, help them play comfortably and get acquainted with the hospital environment, cooperate in treatment, improve the efficiency of medical examination and treatment.