BLK Centre for BMT has emerged as Asia’s largest BMT unit and has completed the fastest 1,000 bone marrow transplant in Northern India. Few patients who were part of this decade long journey marked their presence on the occasion.

Credited for performing hundreds of high risks transplants, Dr Dharma Choudhary, Senior Consultant & Director, Centre for Hemato-oncology & Bone Marrow Transplant, BLK Super Speciality Hospital said, “With Bone Marrow Transplants, we are successfully curing incurable diseases like Leukaemia, Myeloma, Thalassemia and also improving the quality of life for the patients. It has emerged as an innovative option to fight critical and life-threatening diseases.  Performing a large number of transplants provides us with an edge to make the life-saving medical procedure safer and more effective for patients.” 

According to Dr. Chaudhary, “Haemopoietic Stem Cell is sourced from Bone Marrow (BM), Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) and Placental Umbilical cord Blood (P-UCB). Bone Marrow Transplant is a Medical Procedure under Cellular Therapy which includes Allogeneic Transplants (HLA match most important), Blood group need not match, Matched Sibling, the Best match for major and minor antigens. Another form of the procedure is Autologous transplant and Cord Blood Transplant. It is promising to note that Matched Unrelated-donor registries now have over 10 million donors.”

Achieving a milestone by performing over 1,000 Bone Marrow Transplants during the last decade, BLK Super Specialty Hospital’s Centre for Bone Marrow Transplant today also released the data related to types of transplant procedures and treatment of critical diseases such as Leukaemia, Thalassemia and Myeloma. Data shows the majority of patients who underwent BMT were suffering from Leukaemia, Thalassemia and Myeloma.

As per Data released by the Centre, during 2010-2019, the Centre performed 1020 BMT procedures which included treatment of 228 acute Leukaemia, 223 Thalassemia major, 189 multiple Myeloma, 114 severe aplastic anaemia, 103 lymphomas among others.  

Out of these, 740 were Allogenic transplants with 547 Match Related donors and 28 Match Unrelated donors including two cord blood transplants. The Centre also performed 280 Autologous transplants where the blood stem cells from one’s own body are taken out and given back after very high doses of chemotherapy. Nearly 160 Haploidentical transplant was yet another achievement.

The patients who underwent the procedures during the last decade admitted that the BMT gave them normal active life again. Experts underlined the critical role of Bone Marrow Transplant as a curative option for several critical diseases such as Cancer and Thalassemia.

“Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is the only cure but non-availability of a suitable HLA matched donor, inherent high risk of the procedure restricts its practicality. However, the availability of highly trained transplant experts and quality care have well-equipped us to handle a large number of rare procedures,” Dr Choudhary added.