TEHRAN – For the first time, MAHAK Charity Foundation has started using the Total Body Irradiation (TBI) cancer treatment method for children in the country.

Launched by the MAHAK Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Research Center (MPCTRC), TBI delivers radiation to the whole body from head to toe. It destroys remaining malignant cells, creates space in bone marrow for donor’s bone marrow stem cells, and prevents rejection by suppressing the patient’s immune system. TBI increases the survival rate in children with high-risk leukemia.

It is a part of the preparation procedure for hematopoietic (or bone marrow) stem cell transplantation. In this method, the immune system of the individual who needs transplantation gets suppressed allowing the recipient to accept foreign bone marrow stem cells.

Moreover, it can eradicate the remaining cancer cells and thereby increase survival rates of high-risk leukemia patients.

TBI is a method that has been used across the world for decades and is now mostly reserved for high-risk leukemia in need of transplantation. Using this type of irradiation in Iran would increase the survival rate of children with high-risk leukemia.

MAHAK is an NGO that supports services for cancer-stricken children and their families in accordance with international standards, as a result, over 35000 children with cancer have benefited from it during the past 29 years.

FB/MG