Chennai: It is said that every five minutes, somebody in India is being diagnosed with blood cancer, thalassemia or aplastic anemia. Many patients are children and young people whose only chance of recovery is a stem cell donation.
In an interaction with News Today, DKMS BMST Foundation India, CEO, Patrick Paul and Apollo hospital, Paediatric Hematologist, Oncology and BMT, Revathi Raj speak about the disorder and the various treatment options available.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q) Why is blood stem cell important?
A) It may not be possible to treat a good proportion of patients with therapeutic modalities like chemotherapy, targeted and immunotherapies and require stem cell transplant for cure. Both malignant and non-malignant conditions can be cured with stem cell transplant. Sometimes the only treatment option for survival of a blood cancer patient is with a stem-cell transplant. A successful blood stem-cell transplant may lead to cure in 70 to 90 per cent of these patients depending on the disease condition and the donor type.
Q) Treatment options available to a patient suffering from blood cancer?
A) The main stay of treatment in blood cancers is chemotherapy. However, some patients can also be treated with ‘targeted’ and ‘immunotherapies’. A good proportion of patients may not be possible to cure with above therapeutic modalities and require Stem cell transplant for cure.
Q) The process of stem cell treatment…
A) The stem cells in healthy bone marrow produce blood cells, including the white blood cells that are crucial to the immune system. Blood cancer damages a person’s bone marrow, and so do chemotherapy and radiation treatments for the cancers. A stem cell transplant lets new stem cells take over from damaged marrow so the body can produce healthy, cancer-free blood cells.
For a blood stem cell transplant to succeed, it is important that the HLA of the donor and patient are as close to identical as possible in order to avoid rejection reactions between graft and patient.
Q) Role of DKMS in helping people with blood cancer?
A) DKMS BMST Foundation India aims to improve the situation of patients suffering from blood cancer and other blood disorders in India and throughout the world, by raising awareness about blood stem cell transplantation and registering potential blood stem cell donors. As of now, we have registered over 43,000 potential donors and helped 30 patients find a matching donor.
Q) How can one become a donor?
A) People who are interested and fit the eligibility criteria can register at: www.dkms-bmst.org/Register