Cancerous and Genetic diseases which can be cured by Bone Marrow Transplant:
· Leukemia - type of blood cancer
· Severe Aplastic Anemia - type of blood disorder
· Thalassemia – generic disorder of blood
· Immune deficiency disorders
Bone Marrow Transplant is a highly advanced procedure that involves transfusion of bone marrow stem cells from a healthy donor to a patient. In the last few years, it has emerged as an effective and long term cure for diseases such as Leukemia, Thalassemia and Aplastic Anemia which earlier were not curable. There are three sources of donors from where the bone marrow can be collected – *related donor, matched unrelated donor and haploidentical donor.
“The nature of blood diseases/ disorders is either genetic in nature or acquired due to exposure to several risk factors including hazardous environment and consumption of adulterated food”, said, Dr. Sharat Damodar – HOD & Senior Consultant Hematologist - Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Narayana Health City.” He further added, “Bone Marrow Transplants are now producing high success rates as it is curative in nature and offers hope to patients of a life beyond painful and fatal diseases.”
Speaking about the constraints in finding donors in India, he said, “However in India, it is a challenge to find donors and we should consider it as our social responsibility to volunteer for donating healthy bone marrow and help patients in need.”
Dr. Damodar and his team of experts also presented and shared cases of patients who have been in remission for five years and even more and leading a disease free life post Bone Marrow Transplantation.
A 30-year-old teacher was admitted with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in blast crisis with the only match option being a bone marrow transplant. Luckily, her sister’s bone marrow matched and the patient underwent bone marrow transplant, which has cured her completely. She is now doing well and comes for follow-up.
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells which starts in the bone marrow. When a person is suffering from leukemia, the bone marrow starts to produce abnormal white blood cells which are known as leukemia cells. The treatment choices for leukemia include radiation and chemotherapy, but in cases where it relapses, the only treatment option is bone marrow transplant.
7-year-old boy underwent bone marrow transplant for Thalassemia; now 14-year-old has recovered and is back to school.
Thalassemia is the inherited blood disorder which causes the body to make less hemoglobin. The treatment option for thalassemia involves regular blood transfusions, bone marrow transplant being the most effective cure. Narayana Health City is the only hospital in India to have partnered with ‘Cure Thalassemia’ (an organization consisting of renowned doctors who pioneered ‘Bone marrow transplant’ for thalassemia patients from Italy).
Another seven-year-old boy suffering from severe life threatening infection – aplastic anemia was referred to Narayana Health City for curative treatment. His three-year-old sister donated the stem cells for his treatment and the boy is now healthy and doing his engineering. His blood group was changed after this transplantation.
Aplastic Anemia refers to a medical term for bone marrow failure, when the quantity of each of the three blood cell types is much lower than normal. The symptoms are unexplained infections (due to fewer white blood cells), unexpected bleeding (due to fewer platelets) and fatigue (due to fewer red blood cells). The treatment for aplastic anemia include blood transfusion, blood and marrow stem cell transplants.
Narayana Health City Bangalore has India’s largest Bone Marrow Transplant Unit with around 30% of patients coming from overseas. The unit was established with a vision to make this treatment affordable to the common man. Since then the BMT unit has completed more than 300 bone marrow transplants with 70% of them being allogeneic stem cell transplants. .
