In September 2016, Quang was hospitalised due to a series of nodules emerging in his neck, armpit and groin areas. He was diagnosed with lymphoma and was advised to undergo chemotherapy before receiving stem cell transplants for radical treatment. After providing careful consultation for the patient, doctors separated the stem cells and stored them in a solution of HES 12%/DMSO 10%/Albumin 8% at a temperature of -80°C.

As the cancer cells were completely destroyed after eight turns of chemotherapy, the patient was transplanted with the previously stored stem cells. Now that Quang’s health has fully recovered he is able to return to work next month.

According to Le Phuoc Dam, a doctor of the Hematology Department, previously, stem cell transplants in Vietnam mainly used the method of preserving stem cells in the DMSO 5% solution stored in liquid nitrogen at the temperature of -196°C. This method required modern medical equipment, a lot of time for transplantation (about three hours) and left many side effects. Therefore, Cho Ray Hospital decided to travel to Japan to learn about the transplant technique of autologous peripheral blood stem cells, stored at -80°C in the HES 12%/DMSO 10%/Albumin 8% solution. This is the most advanced method of transplanting stem cells in the world at present, as the stem cells can be stored for five years with low preservation costs, in addition to reduced time taken for transplantation (about one hour) and fewer side effects. In addition, this method only costs roughly VND50 million (US$2,200) per patient, just half of the costs associated with the old method.

Cho Ray Hospital is the first hospital in Vietnam to successfully apply this method. According to Suzanne ThanhThanh, this technique is not as difficult and does not require modern or expensive equipment. So, it can be applied by a number of central and provincial-level hospitals with the Hematology Department, to treat patients.