Half match Thalassemia transplant is a very rare surgical procedure done because of the severe complications that can potentially arise in the post operative period. However, doctors at the HCG Manavata Cancer centre Nashik led by Dr. Priyatesh Dwivedi undertook this risky task and successfully performed a Thalassemia Haplo identical (Half match) T-Cell Replete BMT, on a 10-year-old male patient.
Half match transplant is a transplant where HLA matching is less than perfect match (<10/10). Half match transplants are risky because it involves many complications and there are high chances of death.
There is more than 50% chance for occurrence of various forms of complications after the half match transplant and usually the first 100 days post operation are the most critical, as the risk of complications are very high. Acute GVHD, Graft Rejection/Failure, CMV Viremia/disease, BK Virus Haemorrhagic Cystitis are the most common dreaded complications along with the possibility of numerous other infections, causing high mortality.
In this case, the main reason why there were no complications in the 100 days post operative period, was because of the novel interventions used after transplant. These novel interventions will be published in scientific journals. The risk of complications arising after 100 days is also possible, however the chances are low.
Considering the complexity and complications associated with half match transplants – it is a procedure which not many hospitals try, in fact only a handful of hospitals in Mumbai and Pune do half match Thalassemia Transplants. It is advisable or the success rate of this procedure is higher when an experienced BMT doctor is leading the surgical procedure.
