PM urges further research on two treatment methods for COVID-19 patients
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long to study two treatment methods for COVID-19 patients proposed by Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem, former Director of the National Peadiatrics Hospital, to have a suitable application plan.
Hanoi (VNA) - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requestedMinister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long to study two treatment methods forCOVID-19 patients proposed by Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem, former Director ofthe National Peadiatrics Hospital, to have a suitable application plan.
To contribute to reducing COVID-19 mortality, Liem had proposedtwo treatment methods that the world has successfully applied.
The first is transfusion of convalescent plasma containingantibodies against SARS-CoV-2 virus from recovered patients to patients at riskof severe conditions.
This is not a new method. During the COVID-19 pandemic, manyparts of the world have applied this method and it has contributed to reducingthe mortality rate. Due to the urgent pandemic situation, the designs andresults of some previous studies are not very convincing. However, the recentstudy by Libster published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine,is remarkable, showing that plasma transfusion from recovered patients reducedthe rate of respiratory failure and mortality compared with the control groupreceiving saline serum.
Two points emphasised in this study are that theyadministered convalescent plasma to patients very early, within 72 hours of theonset of symptoms, and they only use plasma with high anti-viral antibodytiters. Although the transfusion subjects were people aged 65 and more withunderlying medical conditions, none of the patients had serious adverse events.
Collecting plasma from donors is in principle the same ascollecting blood from blood donors. The method is easy to implement, and lowcost. Liem suggested the Ministry of Health direct the city’s Hematology andBlood Transfusion Hospital and the National Institute of Hematology and BloodTransfusion to soon establish a plasma bank with anti-viral antibodies to useon high-risk patients.
The second is early infusing mesenchymal stem cells from theumbilical cord for patients with respiratory failure to prevent Cytokine storm- the leading cause of death in patients with respiratory failure. This methodhas been used for respiratory failure of various causes.
With COVID-19, some studies show that stem cell transfusioncan increase the survival rate by 2.5 times compared to the group withouttransfusion. Currently, Vietnam has mastered the technology to producemesenchymal stem cells in large quantities, which, if studied and deployed,will be a promising method to reduce mortality./.
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Treating a COVID-19 patient. (Photo: VNA) 
