Dima died on October 19, 2011

Hello!
Dima Ustinov was born on November 9, 1994 in a large family. Dima has six sisters and a brother. He was born full-term, and grew and developed according to his age. Dima was never sick with children's infections, and was immunized on schedule. Due to a speech defect (delay of speech development), he studied at specialized school for children with speech defects. Since April 2004, my son was monitored by phthisiatrician due to conversion of tubercular tests, and since June 2004 – due to TB infection.
In February 2004 Dima was at the hospital due to lymphadenitis in his neck. In March 2006 he started feeling fatigued and turned pale. In May of that year the blood tests showed that he was anemic (hemoglobin count of 96 g/l). Dima lost weight. During blood test on July 24, 2006 (hemoglobin count – 65 g/l), blast cells were found in peripheral blood (35%). As a result of the examination, Dima was diagnosed with myeloblastic leukemia and received treatment.
Since December 27, 2006 he started supporting therapy (6-Mercaptopurin daily with 4-day courses of Cytosar once every 28 days for a year).
On December 4, 2008 one of Dima's testes got enlarged. The results of bone marrow testing showed that both of the testicles were affected. Dima was diagnosed with first late relapse (testicular and bone marrow).
Dima was recommended to undergo HLA testing for the search for compatible related donor. If a matching related donor is available, bone marrow transplantation can be performed at R. Gorbacheva clinic.

Larisa, Dima's mom

Epicrisis: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, page 5

Update as of September 25, 2009. Dima successfully underwent related transplantation and recovered. He was discharged and allowed to go home.

Update as of December 29, 2009. Dima returned to the clinic due to acute GVHD of mucous tissues. He received a course of treatment for a complication (hemorrhagic cystitis) as well. He now feels better, but still needs Albumin.

Update as of July 3, 2010. Dima came for planned examination with acute GVHD of skin and mucous tissues. He was prescribed therapy with Cellsept, Glivec and Cyclosporine for a month. Afterwards he will undergo photopheresis and will need to pay for supplies for the photopheresis machine.

Update as of August 10, 2010. Dima underwent two cycles of photopheresis and he feels well. He is now at home. The next checkup is scheduled for September, at which time a decision will be made whether to continue or stop photopheresis.

Update as of October 24, 2010. Dima came for a photopheresis course, but it was canceled due to an infection in his head's skin. Dima is not getting surgical treatment of the skin at the St. Mary Magdalene Hospital every day. Dima is still administered immunosuppression therapy and was prescribed Vfend.

Update as of November 23, 2010. Dima underwent one course of photopheresis. Since a wound on Dima's head (he had a bad fall in the summer and hit his head) is not healing well (the tests show Pseudomonas aeruginosa that does not respond well to antibiotics), Dima was transferred to a surgery department of St. Magdalena hospital.

Update as of March 10, 2011. Dima has a grave form of GVH reaction and a posttraumatic head wound that does not heal for a long time. At present he is being treated at the day care unit of the Institute of Children's Hematology and Transplantology. He has trouble moving around and needs help to pay for the taxi from home to the clinic. He is getting Cyclosporinum and Glivec as well as courses of Octagam.

Update as of April 19, 2011. Dima was allowed to go home in between photopheresis cycles. He does not feel very well due to fatigue and it is difficult for him to walk.

Update as of July 23, 2011. Unfortunately, Dima missed several courses of photopheresis and has not been back at the clinic. His mom is not answering the calls. We have no information about Dima's health.

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