Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Medical Center in Israel announced a “major breakthrough” in the treatment of multiple myeloma cancer, the second most common blood disease, accounting for 1/10 of all cancer blood.

A breakthrough in the treatment of a disease long considered incurable has been developed following a series of experiments conducted in the hospital’s bone marrow transplantation and immunotherapy department over the past few years.

“We have over 200 patients on our waiting list at any given time from Israel and around the world. Now, in light of the impressive results of CAR-T treatment, it seems that they still have many years to live – and with an excellent quality of life,” said the head of the department, Professor Polina Stepensky.

The treatment is based on genetic engineering technology, which is an effective and innovative solution for patients with a life expectancy of only two years to a few years ago.

More than 90 percent of the 74 patients treated at Hadassah experienced “complete remission,” according to oncologists. However, due to the complexity of the treatment, only one patient per week receives the treatment, which is still being conducted as an experiment.

Multiple myeloma is a type of bone marrow cancer, which is spongy tissue in the center of some bones that produces blood cells. The disease has been called multiple myeloma because the cancer often affects many areas of the body, including the skull, pelvis, ribs, and spine. It is often diagnosed after a routine blood or urine test.

Source: Jerusalem Post

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