Half-matched bone marrow transplant at NRS Hospital

Kolkata: Doctors at the haematology department at NRS Medical College & Hospital have conducted a successful haploidentical (half-matched) bone marrow transplant (BMT) on a 42-year-old man. The patient was sent home on Friday three weeks after the transplant.
The patient, Swapan Naskar from Howrah, was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a life-threatening condition where the bone marrow is unable to produce enough blood cells.Even though a fully matched transplant is ideal, doctors found the bone marrow of his 58-year-old brother — who was the donor — was only half-matched. Half-matched transplant causes significant challenge due to a major blood group mismatch and high antibody levels.
Despite that the doctors conducted the procedure on Sept 27 under the leadership of Rajib De.
“Performing the first haploidentical transplant at a govt set-up in a case with both major blood group mismatch and high antibody levels is always challenging. However, through meticulous planning and advanced medical procedures, we were able to successfully carry out the transplant and provide . Naskar with a new lease on life,” said De, who was assisted by doctors Pravin Jha, Chirasree Sanyal and Kaustav Ghosh.