Doctors at Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, successfully performed a Haploidentical BMT for Thalassaemia Major on a 17 year old Sri Lankan girl. Roshani Sandhya Kumari from Kurunegala underwent this procedure as a definitive treatment for Thalassaemia. Since a fully matched donor was not available, Dr Deenadayalan and Dr Vimal Kumar, Paediatric Hemato Oncologists at Gleneagles Global Health City, transplanted ‘half-matched’ stem cells from Roshani’s mother in a bid to both save her life as well as improve her quality of life.
Roshani a 17 year old girl from Kurunegala, was diagnosed with Thalassaemia major when she was less than one year old and she has been on monthly blood transfusions since then. Roshani met a doctor in an outreach program at Kurunegala and was advised to visit Chennai for further evaluation where it was concluded that a Bone Marrow Transplant was the final solution for her problem. She was the only child in the family, and unfortunately there were no fully matched donors in the family or in unrelated registries. It was then suggested a Haploidentical BMT using her half matched mother as a donor, which could save Roshani’s life.
Roshani’s mother was prepped with medications during the month of August 2017 and again in January 2018 so that she would be ready to donate her stem cells to save her daughter. The life saving Bone Marrow Transplantation was successfully performed on the 19th of January post which the patient was kept under observation and strict medical supervision. Roshani’s condition improved gradually and she was totally fit for discharge in the next two months. She recovered fully and was discharged from the hospital on the 8th of March 2018.