By Kaan Bozdogan
ISTANBUL (AA) - An 8-month-old Bosnian brought to Turkey to treat a brain tumor is seeing positive results from treatment, according to medical officials.
After being diagnosed with a brain tumor, Arslan Kulacic was brought to Turkey on Jan. 30 by air ambulance and had an operation at Istanbul’s Acibadem Hospital.
A fund-raising campaign for the boy in Bosnia and Herzegovina managed to collect €133,000 ($166,160) for his treatment.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Caglar Cuhadaroglu, Acibadem's chief of medicine, said that after two months of treatment, Arslan’s brain tumor has gotten smaller.
Cuhadaroglu stated that the third cycle of chemotherapy was successfully completed and that the tumor shrank during the treatment.
Arslan’s team of doctors decided that the boy will go on to a fourth cycle, he added.
"Another treatment protocol or another method would have been introduced to reduce the size of the tumor if the tumor hadn’t shrunk. At the moment, it was decided that this treatment should continue without any surgical intervention,” he said.
Cuhadaroglu stated that the infant’s condition is being watched closely.
Arslan’s immune system is working, and he is regularly moving and in contact with his family, he added.
As shown in the first pictures taken by Arslan during his treatment in Istanbul, the 8-month-old is smiling in his mother’s lap.
Arslan also regained the sight in the left eye, which was temporarily lost due to the tumor, while treatment for the sight in his right eye continues.