Staff Reporter –
Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute (SGCCRI) reached a new milestone with 100 successful Autologous Bone Marrow Transplant since the department’s inception in 2013 – with no transplant related mortality so far. According to WBMT (Worldwide Network of Blood and Marrow Transplant), 90000 hematopoietic stem cell transplants per year are performed worldwide and 1.5 million HCT were performed by 2019 since 1957.
In India, transplant activities started in 1983 and according to ISBMT registry 2020, a total of 19421 HCT has been reported from 97 transplant centers. Of these, 11413 were also SCT and 8008 were auto SCT. In West Bengal there are eight-transplant centers sharing data to ISBMT. The transplant program in WB has picked up recently over the past 6 to 7 years, with the commencement of DM hematology courses in NRS and IHTM. WB contributes around 8 to 10% of the total transplants in India.
A Bone Marrow Transplant is a procedure that infuses healthy blood forming stem cells into your body to replace bone marrow that’s not producing enough healthy blood cells. BMT saves the lives of patients with blood cancer and serious blood disorders like thalassemia major, aplastic anemia, and primary immune deficiency. There are mainly two types of transplant: Autologous and Allogeneic, with SGCCRI currently performing Autologous transplant and working on to include Allogeneic in their transplant programme soon.
Commenting on the milestone, Dr. Arnab Gupta, Medical Director, SGCCRI said, “ We are delighted to successfully complete 100 BMT surgeries in our campus. SGCCRI has a dedicated BMT unit and ICU with a multidisciplinary team including oncologists, cardiologists and nurses. Before undertaking a BMT, the patient’s current health and disease history is evaluated and prior treatment is given accordingly. It is made sure that the patient is in the best possible health.”
Sharing his experience of 100 BMTs, Dr. P.P.Gupta, In Charge of BMT, SGCCRI said, “What we have noticed is, slightly more autologous (53.5%) than allogeneic and more related (53.6%) than unrelated HCT were reported. HCT are increasing steadily worldwide with narrowing gaps between regions and greater increase in allogeneic compared to autologous activity. While related HCT is rising, largely due to increase in haploidentical HCT, unrelated HCT is plateauing and cord blood HCT is in decline.”
In SGCCRI, Usually, the patients are discharged after 18 – 25 days after the transplant. But the care for the patients does not stop when they leave the hospital as the transplant team continues to track their condition for years after the bone marrow transplant
