Kasturba Hospital pioneers yet another landmark — bone marrow transplantation

Mangalore :

The first Bone Marrow transplantation at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal was performed on a patient with Multiple Myeloma.

The advanced oncology treatment medical procedure – Autologus Bone Marrow transplant – was performed by Medical Oncology department under the leadership of Dr Karthik S. Udupa..

Kasturi, 28 (name changed) from Raichur district, was suffering from multiple myeloma and was being treated at Shirdi Sai Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal for the same. She underwent high dose chemotherapy and Autologus stem cell transplant from September 29 to October 15. The various indications for Autologous stem cell transplant includes multiple myeloma, relapsed Hodgkin’s lymphoma, relapsed Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and also paediatric tumor like Neuroblastoma.

Autologus Bone Marrow transplant involves three steps: First step is Apheresis – mobilisation of stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream and circulating stem cells are then harvested or collected. In the second step, the patient is given High dose chemotherapy dose to wipe out the problematic cells. And the third phase is the stem cell infusion phase where the stem cells are given back to the patient to reconstitute the immune system. Apheresis also was performed for the first time in the entire coastal belt of Karnataka under the guidance of Dr Shami Shastry, Associate Professor – Transfusion Medicine.

Dr (Col) M Dayananda, Medical Superintendent and COO, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal claimed: This facility was previously available only at Oncology Centres in Bangalore.

He congratulated the Team from Medical Oncology Department for making a major step in providing care to the needy patients. From now onwards, patients from coastal belt, Malnad and plains and the other nearby districts will be able to get this treatment of Bone Marrow transplantation at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. Dr Dayananda added that this advanced medical procedure for cancer treatment is offered at a just a fraction of the cost than that available in Bangalore.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangalore / by Stanley Pinto, TNN / October 24th, 2014

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