4-year old saved by half match stem cell transplant at Continental Hospitals

Continental Hospitals peformed Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplant on a 4-year-old child, suffering from Fanconi Anemia, the disease so rare, that only one in four lakh people are affected.

Parents of Haneesh Verma, a 4-year-old kid from Hyderabad consulted our Hospital on the 31st of October, complaining about multiple ailments since birth, of which the most recent and troublesome was a drop in the blood levels (Aplastic Anemea). Upon identifying that the kid was affected by Fanconi Anemia, our doctors succeeded to save him with what in medical terms is called a half-matched Stem Cell Transplant,the first of pediatrics in India.

According to the Fanconi Anemia Research Foundation, more than 60 percent of patients born with FA have at least one physical anomaly with median lifespan of less than 2 decades. In 38 years of European History, only 729 cases of Stem Cell Transplant in Adults have been treated. This genetic disease is an autosomal recessive condition with affected children landing into severe bone marrow failure by the age of 8 or 9 years.

Dr. A V S Suresh, Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist and Hematologist says, in this case, the disease afflicted Haneesh much earlier that is when he turned four. Left alone, it might have led to many complications like weakness, bleeding, recurrent infections and a panorama of growth disorders and occasionally Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Stem cell transplant is the current standard and only curative option for Fanconi Anemia. In this procedure, Dr.Anjul Dayal, Senior Consultant Paediatric Intensivist, Dr.Satyanarayana Bhamidipati, Senior Consultant pediatrician and Dr.Ramesh Babu Vedangi, HOD &Senior Consultant Anaesthesiologist were also involved. However the challenges are many in this case, and to cite the most vital of them, they are

 There was no match from registries / cord

The best match is half match from father with a different blood group

 The kid is hyper active with limited understanding

Stem cell harvest procedure was done on the father that lasted for about three and half hours, and thereafter the harvested stem cells were transplanted to the child which is a half-an-hour procedure.

The true courage to our hospital came from the family, which readily accepted the risk and the unrestricted support from Employ State Insurance (ESI), without whose financial support, this could have been impossible.

With advanced immunomodulating protocols and with help of a dedicated multidisciplinary team we are glad to announce that, the Halpo Transpalnt was done successfully and the boy is on a good recovery track.