Leucosis treatment abroad

Often, foreign doctors are faced with the fact that in the patient’s homeland (especially in the CIS countries) the diagnosis was made incorrectly. This does not make it possible to choose the right treatment plan. Therefore, before starting therapy, the patient is given a thorough diagnosis. It includes computed tomography, cytogenetic studies, immunophenotyping, blood tests, and histological analysis of the bone marrow. Diagnostics allows doctors to determine the type of cancer cells, the prevalence of the pathological process, the degree of damage to internal organs, and the

presence or absence of metastases. Only after analyzing the results obtained, you can start the treatment.

The most reliable data on the state of the hematopoietic system can be provided with the help of:

• Morphological examination of blood smears.
• Examination of bone marrow samples and enlarged lymph nodes obtained during a biopsy.
• Determination of markers of abnormal leukocytes (immunophenotyping).
• PET/CT

The list of examinations usually includes other laboratory and instrumental tests (general and biochemical blood tests, ultrasound, computed and magnetic resonance imaging, etc). The list of necessary examinations is prescribed by the doctor, depending on the patient’s symptoms, and the presence of concomitant diseases.

The treatment plan is based on the stage of the disease, type of leukemia, health status, and age of the patient.

CHEMOTHERAPY

It is the main type of therapy, it allows destroying abnormal cells and stopping the progression of the disease. Chemotherapy is usually done in two stages, the drugs are given intravenously or (if cancer cells are present in the cerebrospinal fluid) into the spinal canal. In Turkey, new-generation chemotherapy drugs are used, which have fewer side effects and much more efficiency.

BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATIONATION

In order to restore the hematopoietic function of the bone marrow, a patient after chemotherapy or radiotherapy can undergo a bone marrow transplantation procedure. In the clinics of Turkey, all conditions are created both for the procedure itself and for the subsequent care of the patient. Indeed, in the period after BMT, the patient needs constant monitoring of the state of all organs and systems in order to prevent rejection reactions or other complications. Both types of transplantation are performed in Turkish clinics: autologous (using the patient’s bone marrow) and allogeneic (using donor bone marrow).

IMMUNOTHERAPY

This is another newer type of therapy that can be prescribed along with chemotherapy or separately if standard treatments do not show results. It is based on stimulating the patient’s own immune system so that it learns to recognize cancer cells and destroy them.

RADIOTHERAPY

If a patient has an accumulation of pathological cells in the spleen, lymph nodes or other organs, a course of radiotherapy to target the destruction of cancer foci may be prescribed. Modern linear accelerators, which are used for radiotherapy sessions in Turkey, allow for treatment with minimal damage to healthy tissues.

The exact amount for treatment becomes known when the doctors draw up a treatment plan and determine what medications and procedures the patient needs. As a rule, already at the first stage of preparation for the trip, when a request is sent to the clinic, the estimated cost becomes clear.

Treatment in Turkey is distinguished by the most reasonable price-quality ratio. So, with the same efficiency as in European clinics, prices in Turkey are 20-40% lower.

If a child falls ill and the family does not have enough money for his treatment in Turkey, the Experts Medical service will help parents find a charitable foundation that will partially cover the costs of treatment.

To contact Experts Medical coordinators, just leave a request on our website with a contact phone number. Our experts will answer all your questions.

The clinical picture of leukemia at the initial stages of the disease differs in symptoms in different patients. All the variety of symptoms is combined into several clinical syndromes:

Anemic. It is characterized by a decrease in the number of red blood cells in the blood, the development of anemia, and its characteristic manifestations: pale skin and mucous membranes, weakness, etc.

Hemorrhagic. Associated with a decrease in the number of blood platelets. It is manifested by prolonged bleeding from wounds and the appearance of hematomas in response to a mechanical impact that is insignificant in strength.

Hyperplastic. The patient has enlarged regional nodes, liver, and spleen.

Painful. It is also sometimes called osteo-articular, since the pains mainly appear in the bones and large joints.

Acute leukemia develops within weeks and quickly leads to a violation of a person’s well-being. Chronic leukemia may not make itself felt for many years. You can suspect the presence of a problem by characteristic changes in the general blood test.

Acute leukemia is curable in 75-85% of adults. In children, this figure is even higher and is about 95%. The absence of recurrence of acute leukemia within 5 years after treatment allows considering the child recovered.

The likelihood of recovery is largely determined by the quality of medical services, the technical and material capabilities of the clinic, and the doctor’s access to the latest information on the diagnosis and treatment of leukemia. In this regard, specialized medical centers in Turkey have much more resources than those in the CIS countries.

In Turkish clinics, as elsewhere in the world, the main methods of treating leukemia are chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. However, the high efficiency of these methods in Turkey, compared with the extremely modest results of domestic oncologists, is determined by “details”:

Newer chemotherapy drugs are purchased based on their efficacy and safety profile, not cost or “protection of the domestic producer” considerations.

A high level of resuscitation care is especially important for patients after bone marrow transplantation.

The presence of a number of new approaches to the treatment of leukemia (immunotherapy, transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells, etc).

Usually, the examination and treatment plan is drawn up on the basis of medical documents provided to the Turkish doctor. The plan indicates the planned treatment, its cost, and the length of the patient’s stay in the country/clinic. Based on the examinations available to the patient, if the data is sufficient for analysis, hematologists can predict the likelihood of bringing the patient into remission.

Based on many years of experience in organizing the treatment of leukemia in foreign clinics, we have compiled our TOP-3 leading oncohematological clinics in Turkey, collected information about leading specialists in this field, and established contacts with reliable funds. All this is provided in order to give people with leukemia a chance to recover.

In Ukraine, bone marrow transplantation from unrelated donors is not performed, so you can get financial assistance from the state to carry out this procedure abroad. Experts Medical specialists help with choosing a clinic, agreeing on the conditions and cost of treatment, and preparing a package of documents for paying for bone marrow transplantation from an unrelated donor at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. Since Experts Medical is the official representative of the clinics, assistance is provided to patients free of charge.

In oncohematology, cytostatics, drugs that disrupt the formation of tumor blood cells, are used to treat leukemia. The choice of an effective cytostatic agent or its combination within the framework of polychemotherapy is high art since a specific drug is required for each type of pathological leukocyte. The appointment of a cytostatic at random without a full examination is unacceptable since this increases the likelihood of complications and side effects without a chance of saving the patient’s life.

The duration of treatment averages about two years. The treatment plan includes a number of stages, such as pre-treatment, induction (intensive chemotherapy), and long-term treatment. Depending on the severity of leukemia, chemotherapy can be given on its own or followed by a bone marrow transplantation.

The effectiveness of treatment depends on a properly selected protocol, on the quality of the drugs administered, and on concomitant treatment to restore blood parameters and the whole organism after chemotherapy. While taking cytostatics, immunity often decreases, so prevention of fungal bacterial and viral infections is important. To avoid complications of chemotherapy, patients in Turkey are often hospitalized for the entire duration of treatment

LEUKEMIA TREATMENT METHODS – BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from a healthy donor that matches the patient in a number of genetic parameters.

The probability of selecting a donor among relatives is low and amounts to only 25%. In this regard, most often the bone marrow for transplantation has to be taken from a person who is not a blood relative of the diseased. The basis for selecting a pair of “donor-recipient” is their matching group of histocompatibility antigens. In the latter case, donor bone marrow is taken from an international donor bank.

The procedure for obtaining bone marrow for a donor is relatively safe, easily tolerated, and does not lead to disability. It is carried out in a hospital setting.

Under general anesthesia, hematopoietic tissue is removed from the pelvic bones using special needles. On the day of the procedure, the donor can go home.

Bone marrow transplantation to a patient with leukemia:

Conditioning. The patient’s own bone marrow is destroyed, producing defective cells and supporting the course of the disease, and the activity of the immune system is inhibited.

This is the actual bone marrow transplantation. It’s kind of like a normal blood transfusion. The material obtained from the donor is collected in a plastic bag and injected into the patient intravenously.

Post-transplantation treatment. Leukocytes produced by the donor’s hematopoietic tissue recognize the cells of the recipient’s body as foreign and actively attack them. A potentially life-threatening graft-versus-host reaction develops. To suppress it, immunosuppressants are prescribed, and to reduce the negative consequences of suppressing the activity of the immune system, the patient has to constantly take antibiotics, antiviral, and antifungal drugs.

According to the statistics of the CIS countries (Ukraine and Russia), the overall mortality in bone marrow transplantation reaches 50%. This is obviously an unsatisfactory indicator since every second patient dies in the course of treatment. For comparison, the same indicator in oncohematological centers in Israel and Turkey is almost three times lower.

The quality of treatment of leukemia provided in the CIS countries is negatively affected by three main factors:

• Insufficient experience in transplantation in our country.
• A very small number of bone marrow donors in domestic registries
• Poor quality of medical care for patients and especially conditions for resuscitation after transplantation
• Differences of foreign methods of treatment of leukemia from domestic ones

Modern methods of treatment of leukemia. Israeli clinics rely on the active introduction of the latest technologies and a high level of training. The active exchange of information between doctors, the use of drugs, and treatment approaches with proven efficacy allows Israeli doctors to achieve a consistently high result in remission of patients of all ages.

Thus, the effectiveness of the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children in Israel is 95% and above, and in Turkey more than 90%. At the stage of preliminary consultations, oncohematologists, based on the available examination results, can draw up a treatment plan, and give a prognosis of survival and remission.

First of all, Experts Medical recommends clinics for the treatment of leukemia with doctors listed in the TOP 3 of Israel and Turkey. The cost of leukemia treatment in Israel is on average one and a half times higher than in Turkish clinics.