An eight-year-old girl suffering from Thalassemia has been cured by ‘cord blood stem cell transplantation’ at a hospital here.
The doctors used her younger brother’s cord blood stem cells for transplantation and the hospital authorities claimed it was the first time this method was practised.
Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin that results in excessive destruction of these cells and causes severe anaemia that can occur months after birth. The patient then has to undergo monthly blood transfusion.
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Mayur Abhaya, President and Executive Director of LifeCell International, a leading stem cell bank, told reporters here that Thamirabhurani was suffering from Thalassemia for the last six and a half years.
She went through painful blood transfusion and medication until the Cord blood stem cell transplantation cured the minor girl, he said.
“The stem cell transplantation was recently done by Dr. Revathi Raj at Apollo Hospital and it helped the girl get rid of Thalassemia,” he said, adding doctors had recommended that the patient start on iron reducing medication initially.
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“The doctors then asked her parents to consider another pregnancy and go for umbilical cord blood stem cell banking,” he added.
Raj said a pre-natal test had confirmed that the foetus was not affected with Thalaseemia.