Bone Marrow Transplant from Taiwan

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Bone Marrow Transplant from Taiwan

Published: 04 Jan. 2003, 18:57

Bone marrow donated by a generous man from Taiwan was successfully transplanted to a Korean with leukemia. This is the first time someone has received bone marrow from a person outside of the peninsula.

St. Mary's Catholic Hospital announced on April 30 that they had successfully operated on a person known only by their family name Kim, 43. Kim received marrow taken from a young Taiwanese man. The operation took one hour to complete.

The hospital's search for a bone marrow match being of no avail, the hospital's medical team was forced to look abroad and fortunately found a possible donor in Taiwan. Treatment will be complete after two more transplants are performed on May 11 and June 5.

Dr. Kim, head of the medical team, remarked that the patient is in good condition, and that this is the beginning of a cooperative effort in transplants, a "ray of hope to many desperate leukemia patients in Korea."

by Ko Jong-kwan