22/07/2024
🌿New Cancer Treatment: CAR-T Cell Therapy at Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital🌿
Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital has introduced the innovative CAR-T Cell Therapy. In May 2023, they treated their first lymphoma patient using this therapy, marking a significant milestone. Following the announcement by Chung-Liang Shih, Director General of the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), that CAR-T therapy would be conditionally covered by NHI in Taiwan, the first insured treatment was completed in January 2023. A 70-year-old terminal lymphoma patient was successfully discharged.
CAR-T therapy, approved by the US FDA, is used for blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. The first patient to receive CAR-T therapy globally was Emily, a 6-year-old American girl diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Treated in 2012, she has been cancer-free for 11 years, fully recovered. "CAR-T therapy combines gene therapy, cell therapy, and immunotherapy," said Dr. Chi-Cheng Li, Director of the Center of Stem Cell & Precision Medicine.
Dr. Li emphasized that CAR-T therapy is a one-time treatment. The reinfused T cells remain active, continuing to grow and exert anti-cancer effects within the patient's body. For terminal hematological malignancy patients, the cure rate can reach up to 40%. In the first case of CAR-T therapy at Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, the T cells were extracted at the optimal time to ensure the strongest immune response against cancer. In April, a 14-year-old girl from Vietnam with terminal leukemia recently underwent CAR-T treatment at Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital and has joyfully returned home with a new lease on life.