Malathi* decided that she could no longer see her daughter suffer in pain. Her four-year-old daughter, Janani*, was diagnosed with Thalassemia major, a blood-related disorder, when she was six months old.
“Janani had been on monthly blood transfusions since nine months of age. They were residents of Thanjavur and had to travel from a village to the city for blood transfusion. When she was two-and-a-half-years, we put her on medication to reduce the iron in the body,” M. Deenadayalan, paediatric haemato oncologist at Gleneagles Global Health City said.
“What made things difficult for them is that the child had a rare blood group - AB Negative.
Difficult task
“They faced difficulties in getting donors for monthly transfusions and had logistical problems. BMT was the only option for them, but there were no fully-matched siblings or unrelated donors,” Dr. Deenadayalan said.
For bone marrow transplant (BMT), a Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)-matched sibling of the patient can be the donor. In the absence of a HLA-matched sibling, an unrelated donor is considered, Dr. Deenadayalan said.
“Nearly 25% patients will have HLA-matched sibling. There is a 10% chance of getting unrelated donors. So, we decided to do a Haploidentical BMT. It was performed under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme for Janani,” he said.
After obtaining consent from the parents, doctors proceeded with the transplant. Four months after the BMT, Janani’s post-transplant period has been uneventful and she is free of blood transfusions.
G. Vimal Kumar, consultant, paediatric haemato oncology and BMT, Gleneagles Global Health City, was part of the team.
(* Names changed on request)
