Photo At the Western Specialized Children's Medical Center (WUSDMC), 6-year-old Daniela from Transcarpathia was treated with a complex disease – Burkitt's lymphoma. She underwent seven chemotherapy treatments and a bone marrow transplant.
A Ukrinform correspondent was informed by hematologist Oksana Vorobel of the ZUSDMC.
"The girl came to us in May 2023 in serious condition: with a massive tumor in the abdomen, with tumor lesions of the bone marrow, chest organs, bones jaws, etc. Without exaggeration, I can say that the entire team of the center worked with her,” said Vorobel.
"This is important, because we were dealing with a very aggressive type of lymphoma, which spreads quickly, is less responsive to treatment and has a low overall cure rate.” – Sparrow explains.
“For the first five months, the child and his mother were constantly in the hospital,” the doctor recalls. The girl, despite her age, patiently endured all stages of treatment. She was helped in this by her mother’s responsibility and the support of her large family – four more brothers and sisters were impatiently waiting for them at home,” noted Vorobel.
According to her, the path to recovery was difficult for the center’s doctors: everyone worked divisions of the hospital, the progress of treatment was discussed among a wide range of specialists, different approaches were used, permanent diagnostics and laboratory tests were carried out.
“During the first two months, we had to fight every day for the child’s life. The girl needed constant help from resuscitators, transfusiologists, cardiologists, surgeons, and other specialists. There is probably not a specialist in the hospital who would not join in saving Daniela. With difficulties and complications that threatened the girl’s life, we managed to carry out all seven blocks of chemotherapy as planned,” added Vorobel.
After the PET-CT results at the end of chemotherapy, I was able to breathe a little sigh of relief – the disease had subsided. However, one of the lymph nodes was alarming, which could threaten a relapse. After consultations with foreign oncohematologists as part of the #SAFERUkaine project, they decided to remove it surgically. A further biopsy confirmed the correctness of the decision – isolated shadows of atypical cells were found in the node. At the Children's Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Clinic of ZUSDMC, Daniel was prepared for a stem cell transplant. After the transplant, mother and daughter spent five weeks in a sterile box. And now they are returning home.
The hematologist noted that success was achieved thanks to a combination of several components: the experience of doctors, a multidisciplinary approach and the technological capabilities of the hospital.
As Ukrinform reported, surgeons at the St. Nikolai in Lvov, for the first time, an 11-year-old boy with oncology was operated on using the Da Vinci Si robotic system, which was donated by philanthropists.
Photo provided by the press service of ZUSDMC