Nine year old COVID- 19 positive cancer patient successfully treated with Bone Marrow Transplant at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital

Mumbai, September 04, 2020: Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) in Mumbai performed a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) procedure on a nine year old girl. The patient Devyani, a resident of Kalyan and her father who was the donor were both tested positive for COVID 19 just before the transplant. Since a planned BMT rendered chance of a cure to the young girl’s suffering, the family had to wait for the transplant until they were COVID 19 negative.

The Kalyan resident was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (a type of cancer of the blood and bone) when she was six years old. She was being treated for it and was showing a good response to the treatment initially. In February 2020 just before the lockdown, the disease relapsed and she was put on chemotherapy. Dr. Santanu Sen, Consultant BMT & Paediatric Oncologist at KDAH who was treating her recommended a BMT in June but her surgery had to be rescheduled as the patient tested positive COVID 19

After her recovery from COVID 19 her BMT was performed by Dr. Santanu Sen who said “This was one of the most challenging transplants in the current scenario. We had to reschedule the surgery multiple times as her donor who is also her father had tested positive for COVID-19. We needed to ensure that both donor and the patient were totally COVID free before the procedure.”

The family were counselled in detail about bone marrow transplant procedure, risk of infection, requirement of blood product transfusions, need for hospital stay etc. Both the patient and her father had a good recovery. Dr. Sen added, “Post the procedure we monitored the patient very closely and did multiple CT scans of her chest, abdomen and pelvis considering it was a complicated procedure.”

The recovery of Devyani, cancer and COVID- 19 survivor, is a perfect example and an inspiration that despite of having coronavirus, once you recover you can go ahead for complicated medical procedures/surgeries. Her transplant has been a great success, not only did she come out through COVID but also defeated Leukemia.