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The INSTITUTE OF HEMATOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY (IHI), was founded in 1966 and as a center of science and technological innovation of the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba. Since its founding, biochemical and genetic engineering techniques have been developed that have allowed the introduction of prenatal diagnosis in sickle cell anemia and hemophilias, chronic diseases of the genetic origin, as well as notable advances in the study of structural variants of enzymes and abnormal hemoglobins, and more recently, techniques have been introduced for screening for porphyrias. Institute of Hematology and Immunology.
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The introduction and use of molecular biology and immunology techniques and the application of monoclonal antibodies has made it possible to establish more precise diagnoses with regard to hemopathies. malignant diseases and specifically in leukemia and immunodeficiencies, which contribute to having a more precise prognosis for the application of the most suitable treatments.
The use of new and more complex therapeutic protocols for the treatment of these diseases has made it possible to increase the percentage of complete remissions in acute leukemias and a cure rate of around 70% in the lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children.
Treatments with interferon, retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide, as in more advanced countries, are also used in other types of leukemia, both childhood and adults, and bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and apheresis and exchange transfusion methods are applied in patients who require it. All of these advances have made it possible to extend humanitarian care to a considerable number of patients in other countries, especially Latin America and Africa. What stands out in our history is the provision of treatments to children with malignant hemopathies, including bone marrow transplants to victims of the Chernobyl disaster, Ukraine.
Currently, regenerative cell therapy has been extended with good results to 11 of the country's 15 provinces and more than 6,000 patients have been treated, without significant secondary manifestations. The specialties that have treated the greatest number of patients are angiology and orthopedics.
In Cuba, the application of stem cells has become controlled by scientific research projects and ethically supported by the use of autologous adult stem cells, extracted from bone marrow or previously stimulated peripheral blood, such as a set of stem cells included in a concentrate of mononuclear cells. Because these cells come from the patient's own, they do not face ethical problems or immunological rejection.
Currently, this therapy can be applied in the specialty of Angiology, only in patients with lower limb ischemia due to atherosclerosis or arteritis of the upper or lower limbs, preferably in patients in early stages of the disease; in Orthopedics and Traumatology in patients with complex fractures, pseudoarthrosis, osteoarthrosis of the knee and aseptic necrosis of the hip.
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