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DeRidder, LA, -
January 30, 2017
- The Erdheim-Chester Disease (ECD) Global Alliance welcomes Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, China into its Referral Care Center network to help Erdheim-Chester disease patients.
Xin-xin Cao, MD leads the ECD-knowledgeable team at the first Referral Care Center in China. Cao, together with the group of specialists at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, has seen as many as 30 patients fighting the rare blood cancer.
"To be included in the Referral Care network means a lot to me and to my team. It means we are not fighting the disease by ourselves. We have a family. It is important to ECD patients, since the disease is so rare. The patients will feel more confident to see so many people working together and trying to cure the disease."
Dr. Cao explains why becoming an ECD Care Center is important for ECD patients in China.
ECD is a challenging illness that requires physicians across specialties to diagnose and treat patients. The potentially deadly sickness can affect the brain, bones, lungs, heart, and kidneys in dissimilar ways from patient to patient. Referral care centers provide the most up-to-date treatment available from doctors acutely interested in helping ECD sufferers.
The volunteer-based ECD Global Alliance has facilitated the ECD Referral Care Center network since 2015. Including the Chinese hospital, there are now 24 centers.
Notable institutes within the group include Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
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