30 Children from state suffering dreaded diseases get new lease of life

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Thirty children from the State suffering from dreaded diseases like high-risk leukemia, thalassemia, sickle cell disease, and immunodeficiency were treated through Bone Marrow Transplant at Narayana Health City, Bangalore. The transplants were performed under the supervision of Dr. Sunil Bhat, Director and Clinical Lead Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center at Narayana Health City in Bangalore.

Bone marrow transplant is the most effective cure for a number of diseases like Leukemia, Thalassemia Major and immunodeficiency disorders.

Amongst the 30 children, the majority of them were suffering from Thalassemia. Thalassemia is a disease in which red blood cell production is less and also destruction is more. If left untreated more than 90% of these patients die by age of two years. These patients need a life-long blood transfusion every three to four weeks. Over a period of time, it may result in an overload of iron in the blood due to repeated transfusion affecting the liver and heart causing death.

Speaking about the treatment modality, Dr. Sunil Bhat Director and Clinical Lead Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center at Narayana Health City said, “Bone marrow transplant is the only potential cure for some dreaded diseases like high-risk leukemia, thalassemia, sickle cell disease, immunodeficiency, etc. With the support of the Assam government in the last 3 years, we have been able to cure more than 30 children suffering from these life-threatening diseases. The transplants are usually done between related donors (siblings), matched unrelated donors (non-family members) or Haplo-identical donors (parents).”

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