Since 1984, more than 3,750 transplant surgeries have been performed at St. James.
Ireland's first bone marrow transplant is being remembered, 40 years after the life-saving operation was first performed here.
The operation was performed at St James's Hospital in Dublin in 1984. Sean McCannHe is Professor Emeritus of Haematology at Trinity College Dublin and Head of Transplantation at the same hospital.
The procedure was an allogeneic transplant, in which donor stem cells were taken from a sibling to treat the leukemia patient.
Since then, over 3,750 stem cell and bone marrow transplants have been performed at the facility and the hospital currently performs stem cell transplants for approximately 200 patients in Ireland each year.
The National Adult Stem Cell Transplant Service has since expanded to create Ireland’s first Adult CAR T Cell Therapy Centre. Such cell therapies are often life-saving treatments for blood-related cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, but also in rare cases of bone marrow failure.
The service at St James's is currently the third largest in the UK and Ireland, with patients referred from all over the country.
Mairsil Houlihan underwent a bone marrow transplant at St James's Hospital in 1989. “Being diagnosed with CML (chronic myeloid leukaemia) almost 40 years ago marked the beginning of a worrying and frightening period in my life,” she said.
“Following diagnosis at St Vincent's Hospital I was cared for by excellent haematologists from the support team at St James's Hospital who ultimately saved my life.
“The service was in its infancy when I had my bone marrow transplant but I always felt lucky to have the best team caring for me in the best place, and I'm delighted to be here to celebrate all that the team continues to achieve.”
Since its establishment, the transplant unit has been supported by the charity Bone Marrow for Leukaemia Trust, which has contributed to providing equipment, funding staff and developing accommodation for patients following stem cell transplants.
“This anniversary marks a major achievement for all staff at St James's Hospital, past and present,” said Dr Catherine Flynn, consultant haematologist and clinical associate professor at Trinity St James Cancer Institute.
“Caring for a growing number of transplant survivors is a honour but also a huge challenge. Our service could not operate without the dedicated nursing staff and colleagues across the hospital.”
“We work very closely with organisations such as the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and are extremely grateful to our many stem cell donors around the world. We hope that through adequate support and resources our service will continue to grow in the future.”
CEO, St James Hospital Professor Mary Day He added: “St James's Hospital has a long history of stem cell and bone marrow transplantation and we would not be able to celebrate this anniversary without the clinical expertise we have built and developed.”
“The groundbreaking research of expert clinicians such as Professor McCann has enabled us to cement our position as a global leader in cancer care and establish Ireland’s first OECI-accredited cancer institute, Trinity St James Cancer Institute.”
