‘Kadapa Doctor’ beats Leukemia after complex Bone Marrow Transplantation at Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad
Battling with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Dr Rama Devi was successfully treated by Dr. Ganesh Jaishetwar, Bone Marrow Transplant Surgeon
18th March- Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh: In August 2016, a 58 year old Dr. Rama Devi, resident of Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh grew weak and lost her vision from her left eye. She had a history of fever and easy bruising on her arms and legs. With thorough blood examinations the confirmed diagnosis was that she had Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a type of rare and life-threatening blood cancer.
She then travelled to Hyderabad along with her husband, leaving her daughter and son alone at home in Kadapa. The diagnosis of AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) came as shocking news, and was quite harsh and devastating for her entire family and while the children were preparing for school exams.
Dr. Rama Devi’s case was quite complex, firstly because she had a single kidney from birth. At the time, the blood cancer i.e. AML had developed in the left eye, and this meant that the treatment was going to be an arduous journey, since very few chemotherapy drugs can actually penetrate into the brain and eyes. She also had a history of hypersensitivity to most antibiotics and some other prevalent drugs meant for the treatment of AML. With rigorous monitoring and careful management by cancer specialists, she achieved complete control over the complex disease of blood cancer.
While battling with the disease she was then taken to the Hemato Oncologist and Bone Marrow Transplant Department at Yashoda Hospitals, Somajiguda and Dr. Ganesh Jaishetwar, Consultant Hematologist, Hemato-Oncologist & Bone Marrow Transplant Physician rose to the challenge and commenced her treatment. She was started on a high dose of chemotherapy for her AML. Again, the course of treatment with chemotherapy became difficult for her since she had many complications due to her hypersensitivity to drugs and she developed renal failure due to severe sepsis. Eventually, with rigorous monitoring and careful management by the team at Yashoda Hospital, Somajiguda, she triumphed over the blood cancer within the next 4 months.
“With bone marrow transplants, we are successfully curing incurable diseases like leukaemia, myeloma, lymphomas, aplastic anaemia, immunodeficiency disorders, thalassemia etc. and also improving the quality of life for the patients,” Dr. Jaishetwar said.
It has been almost 4.5 years for Dr Rama Devi post completion of AML blood cancer chemotherapy. In Cancer treatment, survival without cancer for 5 years after the treatment is synonymous with the operational cure from the disease, and there is a relatively low chance of the blood cancer ever coming back. Her treatment journey will be an inspiration to many others and help them understand that medical advancements have successfully paved the path to the future of ‘Blood Cancer treatment & Bone Marrow Transplantation’ in India.
Her journey of triumphing over AML and becoming a cancer survivor offers a fascinating view into the future of blood cancer treatment. Today there is treatment beyond chemotherapy since more curative options in select cases like Bone marrow transplant such as targeted drug therapies and immunotherapies offer a promising future for blood cancers with very high success rates.
Yashoda Hospital’s Hyderabad has recently started a “Yashoda Medical Centre in Kadapa ” at Yerramukkapalli near SBI Bank, for patients in and around Kadapa and YSR district to guide and facilitate advanced treatment for the locals. Experienced doctors from all specialities of Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad visit Kadapa for outpatient consultation. Local Patients can use the medical centre to access the best and world-class healthcare facilities in Hyderabad.
Dr. Pavan Gorukanti, Director Yashoda Hospitals Group said, “The strength of our Cancer Institute lies in our ability to offer all treatment modalities under one roof. Patients are seen and evaluated in multimodality clinics by a team of specialists in each malignancy”.
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