Photo: Fareed al-Mashat
"We have learned how to make bone marrow transplant safer and more effective," says Dr. Jorge Galvez-Silva.
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Economic Backbone: Pediatrics
Nicklaus Children's Hospital doctors find new ways to treat patients with high-risk blood and bone marrow conditions
The Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is one of two pediatric blood and marrow transplant centers in South Florida, performing more than 30 blood and marrow bone transplants per year for patients under age 21 with conditions including leukemia, lymphoma and other types of tumors.
Describing the process to parents and patients as a sick plant in need of new soil, Dr. Jorge Galvez-Silva says that through a three- to four-week process, blood and bone marrow from healthy donors helps patients grow new white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.
Historically, transplants were only for patients with leukemia. But now using procedures and treatments like stem cell bone marrow transplants, cancer immunotherapy, CAR T-cell therapy, the CD34 test, and the collection of hematopoietic stem cells, the program treats patients with conditions such as high-risk acute leukemias, brain tumors, lymphomas, neuroblastomas, anemias and immune deficiencies.
The program’s patient survival rate is more than 95% in the last three years, compared to the national average’s 75% for a similarly sized program.
“In the last 20 years, we have made several advances in bone marrow transplant procedures. We have learned how to make bone marrow transplant safer and more effective,” says Galvez-Silva, director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and member of the KIDZ Medical Services team, a physician-owned multispecialty group that provides neonatal, pediatric and obstetrical care in South Florida. “We’ve come a long way, and as we get more successful at it, we’re looking to achieve survivability with less toxicities so that every child can live a normal and healthy life.”
