Seoul St. Mary's hospital's bone marrow transplantation (BMT) center said Friday that the number of bone marrow transplant cases performed by the hospital has exceeded 7,000.

BMT is a treatment that removes both cancer cells and hematopoietic stem cells by high-dose chemotherapy or whole-body radiation therapy and then re-establishes healthy hematopoietic stem cells for blood cancer patients. The treatment replaces unhealthy marrow in patients with healthier ones by using the blood-forming cells from the patient or a donor that is either a perfect or partial match to the patient.

Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital officials and the 7,000th patient poses for a commemorative photo on Friday.

The hospital, which became the first domestic medical institution to transplant allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in 1983, has continuously succeeded in a variety of BMT procedures over the years. Such procedures include autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, other human hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cord blood transplantation, and transplantation using blood donation of unstable hematopoietic stem cells.

According to the hospital, patients under the age of 10 had the most BMT surgeries compared to other age groups. The result showed those under 10 accounted for 23 percent, followed by 20.6 percent in their 30s, 18 percent in their 40s, 16.1 percent in their 20s, 15.5 percent in their 50s and 6.8 percent in their 60s.

The result also showed that 34.1 percent of the patients, who underwent BMT surgery, suffered from acute myelogenous leukemia. Other illnesses included 17.3 percent for acute lymphocytic leukemia, 11.4 percent for severe aplastic anemia, 10.4 percent for multiple myeloma, 7.1 percent from myelodysplastic syndrome, 6.4 percent for malignant lymphoma, 6.2 percent for chronic myelogenous leukemia and 7.1 percent for other related illnesses.

“The Seoul St. Mary's Hospital BMT Center has become the world's first medical institution to perform more than 7,000 BMT surgeries,” said Kim Dong-wook, director of St. Mary’s hospital’s BMT Center. “The hospital plans to develop its BMT center into a leading medical institution that specializes in patients suffering from blood-related diseases.”

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