JEDDAH, 1 October 2003 — The adult hematology section of the oncology department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah held the Second Annual Hematology Symposium last Wednesday. The meeting was attended by several national and international experts. “We are aiming for unified practices, particularly in the Western region, because different people treat diseases in different ways and our intention is to bring them all together and discuss recent advances and updated information so that we can share and have a unified system which ultimately benefits the patient,” Dr. Mohammed Aslam, consultant hematologist at KFSH and the chairman of the symposium, told Arab News.
The focus of the symposium was lymphoproloferative disorders. Professor Donna Reece from Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Canada, spoke about recent progress in the treatment and understanding of prognostic factors and the biological intricacies of multiple myeloma. Professor Chutse Wu from the Institute of Radiation Medicine in Beijing, China, presented gene drug studies in the treatment of ischemia and leukemia. “The appropriate management of acute leukemia starts with an accurate diagnosis,” said Dr. Tariq Owaidah, consultant hemato-pathologist at KFSH in Riyadh. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in children, according to Dr. Asim Belgaumi, pediatric hematology/oncology consultant at KFSH in Riyadh.
ALL accounts for over 25% of all childhood cancers and 75% of all leukemia; however, with current multi-agent, intensive chemotherapy, the majority of patients can expect to be cured. Dr. Belgaume pointed out that due in large part to the intensification of therapy, this success in treatment has resulted in significant toxic morbidity and mortality and that currently the aims of most ALL studies are directed at reducing these long- and short-term complications of therapy while maintaining and improving the cure rate. Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Homaidi spoke about ALL in adults and said that it was not common in adults.
CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) is one of the most common types of adult leukemia with registry data suggesting that 7,000 patients are diagnosed and 4,500 die each year in the United States. Dr. Aslam spoke about the various stages and management of CLL. Other types of leukemia and recent progress in treating them were also discussed in the symposium.
During the question period, the problem of lack of facilities and trained personnel in diagnosing, treating and accommodating cancer patients at public hospitals was raised by a doctor from a public hospital attending the symposium. “One big issue we have is that even though KFSH in Jeddah is fully equipped and staffed for the management and treatment of these patients, there is a blockage of reference somehow from some places,” said Dr. Aslam. “Patients are literally dying while waiting for a bed. There is some blockage and I don’t know the reason for that; either the reference process is delayed or it does not happen.”
He agreed that cancer treatment was very expensive. “Bone marrow transplants, for example, at a private hospital and even here at KFSH will cost at least SR350,000 and other chemotherapies cost easily in excess of SR100,000. Many patients die because they cannot afford these hospital prices.”
There is a long waiting list for KFSH in Riyadh of patients even from the Western region, according to Dr. Aslam, and they are not being referred to KFSH in Jeddah. What needs to be done, he said, is for the Ministry of Health to open the process for referral, and at KFSH they are helping patients get sponsors for their treatment through higher authorities.