Hong Kong receives second cross-border cord blood transfer to treat girl, 5
- Doctors at Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, where the girl is being treated, expect stem cell transplant to be ready as soon as October
An umbilical cord blood unit has been transferred from Guangdong province to Hong Kong to help a five-year-old girl suffering from the inherited blood disorder thalassemia, the second cross-border transfer of its kind since 2018.
Doctors at Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, where the girl is being treated, on Thursday expected a stem cell transplant to be ready as soon as October after more preparations, including procedural tests on the cord blood.
The cord blood was from the girl’s younger brother, aged four, who was born in Guangdong and had his cord blood stored in the Guangdong Cord Blood Bank.
Dr Frankie Cheng Wai-tsoi, of the hospital’s paediatric haematology and oncology team, on Thursday expressed gratitude to mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities for the smooth and efficient transfer process.
“We shall make necessary preparations in the next few months with the transplant expected to be in October,” Cheng said. “We also need to let the patient get prepared.”
While this is the first time the hospital has received cord blood from across the border, the transfer is the city’s second cross-border transport of cord blood from Guangdong to Hong Kong.
