Bengaluru: Doctors help 12-year-old conquer Thalassemia

Bengaluru: Twelve-year-old Swarag’s hospital dependency was only increasing with each passing year after he was diagnosed with Thalassemia major, which is a hereditary blood disorder, where the body’s bone marrow fails to produce adequate amounts of hemoglobin.

Swarag, who is from Kerala, came to Manipal hospital with his parents, with hopes of leading a normal life like any other child of his age. He was diagnosed with Thalassemia Major when he was six-months-old.

“This condition results in severe fall in hemoglobin and needs regular blood transfusions to sustain life. In his case his parents came to us when he was 12-years-old, which is quite late as the preferred age for infants diagnosed with this rare disorder is one-and-a-half years to two years," says Dr Ashish Dixit, Consultant hematologist, Manipal Hospitals, who was his treating surgeon.

“Later the age, the more dependency on blood transfusion which can happen monthly, or in 2-3 weeks, depending on the condition. Sadly, as the patient’s age progresses there are more chances of organ failure and also the iron overload gets worse,” adds Dr Ashish, who says that the only option they had was bone marrow transplant procedure. “The only treatment to cure this disease is bone marrow transplantation,” says Dr Ashish. “As a result of frequent transfusions he was detected with unusually high content of Iron in his blood. The excess iron content was removed through tablets given to him,” explains the treating doctor.

Luckily for Swaraj, through HAL matching test they found a complete match with his younger sister, who could be a potential donor of Bone Marrow to her elder brother Swaraj. The doctors prepared Swaraj and his sister for the bone marrow transplant procedure. "Swaraj was admitted and initially treated to wash out his defective bone marrow, otherwise known as conditioning the bone marrow. After conditioning, stem cells from his sister were given. He engrafted successfully and started to produce normal hemoglobin,” adds the doctor. “He is well now and has been coming to us for follow-ups for a year,” sums the treating surgeon.