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Bone marrow stem cell transplantation held in Salem hospital

Salem: In a first in the district, a bone marrow stem cell transplantation was successfully performed at a private hospital in the city recently.

Addressing reporters here on Saturday, Dr N Vijayamurugan, medical oncologist, , said the procedure was done on a 55-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
“The patient underwent the transplantation successfully and she was discharged three months ago.” He said the patient was in good condition now.

Bone marrow stem cell transplantation is performed as part of treatment for certain forms of blood cancer such as multiple myeloma, leukaemia and lymphoma.

The procedure requires a sterile zone with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter room to maintain strict aseptic conditions, where the patient would be kept for a month during the intensive phase of treatment. Specialized equipment - an apheresis machine – is used to extract hematopoietic stem cells from the patient and they would be frozen before the start of high dose chemotherapy. The chemotherapy effectively kills the cancer cells and depletes the bone marrow, where blood cells prone to infections are taken care of.

“After the chemotherapy, the extracted stem cells are transfused back to replenish the bone marrow,” Vijayamurugan said. “Since it is the patient’s own stem cells that are transfused back (autologous transfusion), there is no risk of reaction or rejection.” Transfusion medicine consultant Dr R Pitchai was part of the team and he oversaw the extraction and transfusion of hematopoietic stem cells.

Managing director of SKS hospital Dr V Suresh Kumaran said the treatment was previously available only in Chennai, Vellore and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. “Now, the patients in the Salem region needn’t travel long distances for advanced cancer treatment. At SKS hospital and postgraduate medical institute, we have experienced medical and surgical specialists and advanced equipment to treat all kind of cancers,” he said.

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