Chennai: Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, a ‘first of its kind’ bone marrow transplant was performed to save a 30-year-old chemist by profession at Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre.
The Mumbai resident visited the hospital complaining of intermittent fever and dry cough early January. Blood investigations showed elevated WBC count (17,000/mm3) with 82 per cent abnormal cell (blasts). Bone marrow studies confirmed the diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).
The patient received induction chemotherapy with daunorubicin and Cytarabine (7+3) in first week of February 2020, after which his bone marrow was in complete remission. He went on to receive consolidation chemotherapy in second week of March 2020.
The patient was advised Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant. Donor search resulted in full HLA match (10/10) with his younger sister, who resides in Rajasthan. Donor and recipient had the same blood group B positive. Patient and family were counselled in detail about bone marrow transplant procedure, cost, toxicities, risk of infection, requirement of blood product transfusions, need for prolonged hospital stay and risk of disease relapse despite transplant.
While awaiting admission for BMT in April, the patient tested positive for Covid – 19 in April.
The patient finally underwent bone marrow transplant performed by senior medical oncologist Dr Maheboob Basade and his associate, Dr Fahad Afzal. For the next three weeks, he was closely monitored for neutropenia, infections and received multiple IV antibiotics and blood product transfusions. He was also tested negative for Covid-19.