Manipal Hospitals performs stem cell transplantation

Vijayawada: The first of its kind Allogeneic Stem Cell transplantation was successfully performed on a 19-year-old P Pavan at Manipal Hospitals here on Saturday.

Pavan, who was diagnosed with Philadelphia Chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a rare variant of blood cancer early this year, said Dr Sudhakar Kantipudi, Unit Head, Manipal Hospitals, Vijayawada.

Pavan has a high risk of recurrence and requires transplantation through bone marrow transplantation. A team of doctors had successfully performed the stem cell transplantation at the newly formed state of Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Speaking to media here, Dr Krishna Reddy, Consultant Medical Oncologist and bone marrow transplant physician, said that this was possible with the support of doctors, Dr Mahadev Swamy, Consultant Hematologist and Bone marrow transplant physician working at Manipal Hospitals of Goa and Dr Madhav Danthala, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Manipal Hospitals, Vijayawada.

He said that currently, the BMT was not covered under government health scheme and a fraction of support was available through the Chief Minister's Relief fund. We turned to crowd-sourcing to fund the entire procedure and ran a successful campaign, he said.