Presentation Description: The field of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) had its firm beginnings in paediatrcis with the first successful bone marrow transplant being performed in 1968 on a child with severe combined immune deficiency.  Today more than 15,000 allogeneneic SCTs are performed worldwide with around one quarter of those occurring in children suffering from a wide variety of malignant and genetic disorders.  There is no doubt that SCT represents one of the most innovative treatments of the last decades, and while the principles of SCT have remained the same, dramatic changes in the details of SCT over the last forty years have led to significant improvements in the outcome.  While many children are now cured from otherwise fatal disorders, much work is still required to reduce both acute toxicities, and specifically in children, the long-term side effects of these procedures.

Speaker:

Paul Veys, MBBS, FRCP, FRCPath, FRCPH
Director, Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, England
Reader in Stem Cell Transplantation
UCL Institute of Child Health Molecular Immunology Unit