Launching Vietnam Lymphoma Diagnosis and Management Capability Enhancing project

The pioneer project in diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma is the offspring of cooperation between prestigious lymphoma treatment centres in Vietnam including the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, Cho Ray Hospital, with the sponsorship from Hoffmann-La Roche’s representative office in Vietnam.

The strong connection between these three leading medical units in hematology is expected to form a professional foundation for training in lymphoma diagnosis and treatment in order to promote exchange of skill and experience between these key centres and lower-level hospitals with the aim of achieving a high standard of understanding and a full integration of international standards towards lymphoma management.

The project has started since the end of 2014 through intensive training courses at some international centres for groups of professionals – including experienced doctors in lymphoma diagnosis and treatment.

This initial programme formed the basis for the next activities which will be run in 2015 and 2016.

According to Nguyen Anh Tri, director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, there are nearly 2,700 new lymphoma cases involving all ages each year in Vietnam, both in men and women.

Besides, non-Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the cancers on the rise in recent years.

“Currently, besides the efforts in finding new methods of treating non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Vietnam needs more highly-qualified doctors to be located in all provinces throughout the country, in order to meet the demand for diagnosing and treating lymphoma patients nationwide.

We expect that the project will meet the urgent need for lymphoma diagnosis and treatment, so that patients in all provinces could have access to effective treatments for this malignant disease,” Tri said.

“As stated by the global cancer research institute in the United States, lymphoma ranks 13 in cancers. Roche is proud to be associated with the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Cho Ray Hospital and Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital in an effort to reduce the load at higher-level hospitals, which is the top priority in public healthcare in Vietnam with ceaselessly increased new cases.

“Implementing our purpose statement ‘Doing now what patients need next’, this project is a part of Roche's efforts to cooperate with medical community to repel lymphoma by strengthening lymphoma diagnosis and treatment,” said Inge Kusuma, head of Hoffmann-La Roche’s representative office in Vietnam.

Lymphoma is a type of cancer involving cells of the immune system, in which Non Hodgkin lymphoma is more common than Hodgkin Lymphoma. According to Globocan 2012, new Non Hodgkin Lymphoma cases number 2672 per year and mortality rate is 1,847 cases per year.

Headquartered in Basel, Swiss, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics and the world’s largest biotech company with differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS.

Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management.