Mumbai: Two-month-old newborn becomes youngest child to receive bone marrow transplant

Mumbai: A two-month-old baby from Karwar, Karnataka has become the youngest person to receive a bone marrow transplant from a non-parental donor at Mumbai’s Hospital Infantil by Jerbai Wadia. “This is one of the youngest transplant patients in the country to receive maternal cells from a volunteer donor. It is satisfying to treat patients including very young infants using complex therapies like bone marrow transplantation at Wadia Hospital”, said Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala, Executive Director, Wadia Hospital. The baby was referred to Hospital Wadia on the 19th day of life with a diagnosis of “baby bubble syndrome”, medically known as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Children with SCID are born without an immune system, which makes them vulnerable to potentially fatal infections. The genetic defect associated with SCID causes a deficiency of T cells, which are a vital component of our immune system. Without a bone marrow transplant, most children with SCID succumb to infection before they are one year old. Although primary immunodeficiency is rare and affects 1 in every 100,000 people, potentially fatal immunodeficiency can be completely cured with a bone marrow transplant. For his parents, adversity began when their first son was diagnosed with SCID. Despite every effort, the girl was lost to infection before her first birthday. A day after the birth of the second child, doctors in Mangalore confirmed the diagnosis of SCID. With the diagnosis, a race against time began to get the transplant done before infection struck. Obtained from the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of Hospital Vadia D Mangalore. The two medical experts involved in the transplant were Dr. Ambreen Pandrovala and Dr. Prashant Hiwarkar. The girl had multiple perfectly compatible donors in three bone marrow records from India. All the registrars worked day and night to confirm the donor for their transplant. “This timing is critical for children with SCID as the infection can be fatal. While waiting for a fully compatible donor, Anisha was admitted to the bone marrow transplant unit and was taken care to avoid exposure to worms”, the hospital said. Maternal cells were obtained from tissue removed from the donor the next day. The implant is working well and the girl has grown taller.