Chennai, September 17: In a first, doctors in Tamil Nadu have successfully cured a thalassaemic girl child by using umbilical cord blood from her brother.
The complicated procedure was performed by a team of doctors from Chennai and Coimbatore on 9-year-old Thamirabharani. She was diagnosed with thalassaemia a year after she was born, leaving her at the mercy of transfusions.
The doctors cured Thamirabharani by transplanting the stem cells of her younger brother Pugazhendi into her. His stem cells were extracted during birth to facilitate his sister’s cure.
Thalassaemia is a genetic disorder that affects production of haemoglobin in Red Blood Cells (RBC) carrying oxygen to various parts of the body has remained a challenge to doctors the world over.
After the transplantation process was over, the nine-year-old was kept under observation for five months and then it was official that Thamirabharani had been cured of thalassaemia.
”When we first saw her, she was very anaemic and needed frequent transfusion,” said Dr V Bhooma, one of the doctors of the team.
On the post transplant condition of Thamirabharani, Lifecell scientific officer Dr Ajit Kumar said, “After transplantation, her haemoglobin level has been maintained at 12.5 gm/dl. She does not carry diseased cells anymore.”
“These siblings share a special bond. We have now decided to offer stem cell banking free of cost for poor people with children who have curable disorders,” he added.
But for the parents of Thamirabharani it has not been a easy journey. After their first child was diagnosed with the disease, her parents Senthil Kumar and Sarojini had decided to abort two subsequent pregnancies fearing that their other children would also be born with the rare disease.
But on medical advice, Sarojini gave birth to a healthy baby boy in March this year, who was not only a healthy child but also turned out to be the saviour of his sister. And the rest is medical history.
–Agencies