New machine could be a 'saviour' for transplant patients

When a patient's immune system rejects donated cells, life-saving stem cell transplants can become deadly.

Now, the Saint John Regional Hospital is offering a treatment called photopheresis, which can mitigate that risk for patients suffering from tissue graft rejection, graft-versus-host disease, autoimmune issues, fibrosis of the skin, and ulcerative colitis.

Until the machines were installed at the Saint John Regional Hospital in fall 2016, patients had to travel to Toronto and Saskatchewan to receive photopheresis.

For many, like 22-year-old Ashley Hunter of Shediac — diagnosed in 2012 with osteosarcoma, and more recently with non-Hodgkins T-cell lymphoma — that meant the potentially life-saving therapy was out of reach.

"We didn't have the money to travel there once a week," Hunter said. "And even my bones probably wouldn't be able to make it there. Just travelling to Saint John is enough.

"When my Halifax doctors told me they were offering photopheresis in Saint John, we thought, 'this might be the saviour.'"

The photopheresis machine was purchased with a donation of more than $235,000 to the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation from Gerry and Caroline Mulder of Fredericton.

'Re-educating' the immune system

The photopheresis machine works by taking blood out of the patient's body, then spinning it in a centrifuge running at nearly 5000 rotations per minute. The rapid spinning separates the white and red blood cells, allowing the white cells to be injected with a drug called Uvadex.

The injected cells are irradiated under UV light, then sent back into the patient's body. There, the cells dampen the immune system. They reduce symptoms of rejection, minus the side-effects of traditional steroid therapies.

"The process basically re-educates the immune system so that it stops attacking the body," said Dr. Terrence Comeau, a a hematologist-oncologist at the Saint John Regional Hospital, and the lead physician administering photopheresis treatment to patients.

A 'blessing' for patients

Hunter said she's already seeing positive changes in her condition.

Since she started receiving photopheresis, she said, her skin has improved to the point that she may soon be a candidate for surgery. Previously, doctors told her they would be unable to operate until her skin condition improved.

"For me and everyone else who is on the treatment, it is a blessing," Hunter said. "I can't say enough. If it wouldn't have come to Saint John, I don't know if I would have ever get to do the surgery.

"Whether they know it or not, the people who donated for this machine are saving lives."