DTMT Network
CHENNAI: In a milestone achievement in cancer treatment in India, the Apollo Proton Cancer Center (APCC) in Chennai has successfully performed Total Marrow Irradiation (TMI) as a conditioning protocol prior to Bone Marrow Transplant.

A 35-year-old nurse from Oman underwent the procedure at this facility, which is South East Asia’s first Proton Therapy Center. She was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) with mixed phenotypic acute leukemia.

After the diagnosis, she underwent two cycles of chemotherapy at Oman and achieved remission and then was referred to Apollo for Bone Marrow Transplant. The doctors at Apollo decided to proceed with Total Marrow Irradiation based conditioning for the transplant.

The Total marrow irradiation was successfully conducted from April 18 to 20, 2019. It was followed by two days of chemotherapy. The patient subsequently underwent the peripheral blood stem cell transplantation on  April 23, 2019.

The patient’s brother turned out to be a full-matched donor. The patient has responded very well to the treatment and is getting ready for discharge.

“The advantages of Total Marrow Irradiation over Total Body Irradiation is that only the bone marrow is irradiated and the normal organs are spared like eyes, thyroid, heart, lungs, kidneys, ovaries, both large and small intestines. So a higher dose can be delivered to the Bone Marrow sparing the normal organs, whereby long term side effects can be minimized,” said Dr. Srinivas Chilukuri from the Proton Centre.

People with certain types of cancers or other diseases including leukaemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma can undergo a BMT as part of their treatment. Before the transplant, chemotherapy and/or radiation may be given to eradicate any cancer in the marrow. This procedure involves providing radiation to essentially the entire body.

“With modern radiation technology, it is now possible to deliver Total Marrow Irradiation which spares the normal organs from radiation induced damage thereby improving survivorship without altering high survival rates of bone marrow transplantation,” said Dr. Srinivas Chilukuri – Senior Consultant Radiation Oncology.

Dr. Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Group, said, “This achievement validates our investment in the APCC in bringing this best and latest medical technology to India.”

Dr Reddy stated, “We are sure that the future will see the APCC achieve many more milestones and take the battle against cancer forward not just for patients in India but also from South East Asia.”