Chennai: “Eighty per cent of deaths occur due to non-communicable diseases, in which cancer is also one. Tumours are growing at the rate of 36 per cent but I think, it is 40 per cent,” said Apollo Hospitals Group founder- chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy.
He was speaking at a press meet organised here Wednesday to discuss Total Marrow Irradiation (TMI) which was performed on Fatima Humaid Ali Abri, a 35-year-old Omani nurse when she was diagnosed of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with mixed phenotypic acute leukemia.
Speaking to reporters, Fatima said, “I was exhibiting symptoms like fatigue and bleeding in 2018 and consulted doctors at Oman who diagnosed of blood cancer. I received two cycles of chemotherapy back in my hometown.”
Following remission, she was referred to Apollo Hospitals and underwent TMI procedure at Apollo Proton Cancer Centre (APCC) in April.
While Total Body Irradiation (TBI) is the treatment offered to it. As it causes damage to other organs during the process, she was given TMI.
Speaking about the advantage of TMI, APCC senior consultant – radiation oncology Dr Srinivas Chilukuri, said, “In this procedure, it is only the bone marrow is irradiated and the normal organs are spared like eyes, thyroid, heart, lungs, kidneys, ovaries, both large and small intestines. So a higher dose can be delivered to the bone marrow sparing the normal organs, whereby long term side effects can be minimized, offering a better quality of life.”
The procedure was conducted from 18 to 20 April and it was followed by two days of chemotherapy. The patient subsequently underwent the peripheral blood stem cell transplantation 23 April.
While the chances of rejection of cells is more, one of the patient’s brother turned out to be a full-matched donor. The patient has responded very well to the treatment and is getting ready for discharge, said Apollo Hospitals senior oncologist, Dr Jose M Easow.
Following the treatment, Fatima will fly back to her country where a transplant team will monitor her for about six months, review every week and update the Apollo team in Chennai.