The Apollo Cancer Institute here has successfully treated three patients with rare and acute blood cancer ailments with less than 8% survival rate.
All the three patients who underwent bone marrow transplantation of matching stem cells from donors, including one from Germany, crossed 100 days which is considered an important milestone in the transplant process, said Padmaja Lokireddy, consultant, Haemato Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant, Apollo Cancer Institute.
The three patients – Biswajit Saha, a 37-year-old farmer from Assam, Kavitha, 31, a mother of two and Prathima, 32, were suffering from rare bone marrow stem cell disorders which would lead to rapid destruction of red cells. The patients who continued to deteriorate finally approached the Apollo Hospitals where their condition was diagnosed and bone marrow transplant was recommended as the best option.
The three patients were present during the media conference looking almost normal and shared their experience here on Wednesday.
Dr. Padmaja, who earlier worked in the U.K. before joining the Apollo Cancer Institute two years ago, said she had handled about 400 transplants, but the three patients had the most complex blood disorders. Getting bone marrow stem cell from donors was a big challenge, but the Apollo Hospitals handled the difficult situation with good results.
One of the patients, Biswajit Saha, was suffering from a rare disorder called PNH (Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinura), which occurs in one among 10 lakh people. For many months, it was misdiagnosed as a liver ailment. He found a matching donor in his brother and is now back to his daily routine.
Kavitha’s was even more a difficult case as she was ailing from two different types of blood cancer — acute Myeloid and Acute Lymphoid Leukemia — manifesting simultaneously. As no perfect matching donor was found for her in Indian, German and American bone marrow registries, they finally had to settle for a donor of a different blood group with 90 % match from Bengaluru. She is well on her way to normalcy.
The third patient, Prathima, was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia three years ago and had very low platelet count. Her only chance was the bone marrow transplantation and as there was no matching family donor, they had to airlift stem cells collected from the blood of a donor in Germany within 24 hours and the transplant was done. The patient did not need any platelet transfusion after that. Ravindra Babu, medical superintendent, said they were in the process of starting a bone marrow registry in TS as finding perfect match for critical cases was not easy.
