Bone-marrow surgery outcome awaited

Press, 16 April 1979, Page 1

Bone-marrow surgery outcome awaited

The success or failure of the bone marrow transplant surgery done at the Christchurch Hospital on April 7 would not be known for two to three months, said the head of the transplant team, Dr M. E. J. Beard, yesterday. No details will be made known until then, other than that the patient was progressing satisfactorily, said Dr Beard. The patient is being cared far by Dr Beard and Dr G. D. Abbot. The surgery and after-care required the co-operation of

a big team from many departments of the hospital, Dr Beard said. Similar surgery was performed on a girl, aged two, on April 1 at the Auckland Hospital. A decision was made six to nine months ago by the Health Department that New Zealand should have a national bone marrow transplant unit, said Dr Beard. The choice was between the Auckland Hospital and the Christchurch Hospital. The decision to have a unit in New Zealand reversed a previous one that such transplants were to be done overseas.

The reversal resulted from the fact that overseas care was very expensive and the disruption overseas travel would have on the patient and his or her family, said Dr Beard. The realisation that there were persons in New Zealand who could do the surgery also affected the department’s decision, he said. The cost of setting up a transplant unit was not great, said Dr Beard. The main requirement was having available a team who were willing and able to try “a very difficult procedure.”