This is the first foreign patient in China to benefit from related therapies, and a Singaporean mother of three has completed CAR-T therapy in Shanghai
Exploring new platforms and therapies for social medical services in Shanghai, providing diversified services to patients. Since CAR-T therapy was approved for sale in China, Shanghai Jiahui International Cancer Center has collaborated with domestic and foreign partners to build an international CAR-T diagnosis and treatment platform. Recently, the first foreign patient in China to receive CAR-T treatment with Achillense injection was successfully discharged after 3 weeks of infusion of CAR-T cells. On the day of discharge, Jiahui medical staff and her relatives and friends gathered in the ward for a special "discharge commemoration ceremony".
Lyn, who is 40 years old, comes from Singapore and is a mother of three. She has settled in Shanghai for 15 years. Last year in the middle of the year, she suddenly felt pain in her shoulders, neck, and upper limbs, and couldn't sleep well all night. Her symptoms continued to worsen. Emergency examination at Jiahui Hospital revealed a huge mass with a diameter of 15 centimeters in the mediastinum! Compression of the lump can cause limb pain, as well as affect the heart, large blood vessels, and lungs, leading to upper limb venous syndrome, which can cause difficulty breathing and be life-threatening at any time.
The Jiahui Hematology Oncology Team diagnosed primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma through biopsy pathology. This is a relatively rare subtype of lymphoma, which is more common in young people. After a rapid and definitive diagnosis, the team immediately engaged in multidisciplinary discussions to develop a comprehensive and intensified treatment plan for Lyn.
Subsequently, the patient underwent comprehensive treatments such as chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy and radiation consolidation. Unfortunately, she was not sensitive to both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. After the lymphoma had shrunk by half, it stopped shrinking and quickly began to progress. Experts say that Lyn's condition belongs to "primary refractory" lymphoma. After thorough evaluation by the Jiahui Hematology Oncology Team and recommendations from international and domestic guidelines, it is unanimously believed that the patient urgently needs more effective new treatments.
In June of this year, CAR-T cell immunotherapy was officially approved for second-line treatment of adult large B-cell lymphoma in China, reigniting the hope of patients.
What is CAR-T therapy? Expert explanation: Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, also known as chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, is a major breakthrough in personalized cell immunotherapy for human cancer. This therapy mainly collects patient T cells, undergoes in vitro genetic engineering modification, and enhances T cell specific recognition of tumors. Subsequently, a large number of amplified "armed" T cells are injected back into the patient, accurately killing tumor cells, forming immune memory T cells, and obtaining a specific anti-tumor long-term mechanism.
The reporter learned that the currently approved indications for CAR-T in China are lymphoma and myeloma. Due to its individualization and specificity, the clinical application of therapy has extremely high requirements for medical centers, and needs to be carried out in centers with rich experience in the diagnosis and treatment of blood tumors.
Do you choose to seek treatment in Shanghai, return to Singapore, or go to the United States? After careful consideration, the Lyn family ultimately decided to undergo this cutting-edge medical treatment at Shanghai Jiahui International Hospital.
"There are actually multiple factors involved in making this decision. Firstly, considering the child's education in Shanghai, secondly, the cost of CAR-T treatment abroad is much higher than that in China, and the waiting period is at least 3-6 months. Thirdly, and most importantly, it is our trust in the clinical comprehensive strength and comprehensive medical security of Shanghai Jiahui International Hospital. Director Li Hua of Jiahui International Cancer Center has studied medicine in the United States and has already had a wealth of successful cases of CAR-T treatment abroad, which proves that the decision at that time was very correct." Lyn's husband said.
As the first international hospital in Shanghai to offer CAR-T treatment, Shanghai Jiahui International Hospital attaches great importance to this project. The treatment is led by Dr. Li Hua, Director of the Cancer Center, and Dr. Zhou Lili from the Hematology Oncology Department. It brings together departments such as the Cancer Center, Cardiovascular Medicine, Neurology, ICU, Respiratory Medicine, Digestive Medicine, Nephrology, Imaging, Laboratory Medicine, and Pharmacy, as well as the Nursing Team of the Cancer Center, to work together. Multiple rounds of training and scenario simulations are conducted in the early stage, and the patient's current situation is updated in a timely manner.
After preliminary bridging treatment, infection investigation, and pre collection confirmation, the blood team collected cells from Lyn on July 19th and successfully completed CAR-T cell infusion on August 21st. Director Li Hua introduced that there are multiple crucial stages in the entire CAR-T treatment course. One is the T cell collection stage, which requires a professional medical team to collect a sufficient number of T cells in a short period of time with the help of precision equipment; Secondly, from the completion of collection to the pre infusion stage, it is necessary to avoid further deterioration of the condition, so that patients can smoothly transition to the day of infusion; Thirdly, after cell transfusion, it is highly likely to cause cytokine release syndrome and immune effector cell related neurotoxicity syndrome, which is also the reason why some CAR-T patients are at risk and require close monitoring by clinical teams
After CAR-T cells were reintroduced into Lyn's body, the T-cell special forces that entered the body showed good expansion, and the patient's pain symptoms caused by the tumor were alleviated. In early September, after clinical evaluation showed that her condition was stable, Lyn was successfully discharged from the separate CAR-T specialized isolation ward and returned to the general tumor ward. She was discharged on September 13th for long-term monitoring and treatment.
It is reported that Shanghai Jiahui International Hospital Jiahui International Cancer Center has completed multiple CAR-T training certifications and has been authorized to treat and carry out clinical applications of CAR-T cell therapy. This therapy has been opened for commercial insurance payment, and various other payment methods will also be implemented one after another.
