Girl from Pak undergoes bone marrow transplant in Bengaluru
Bengaluru, October 19
Two-year-old Amyra Sikandar Khan from Pakistan has successfully undergone a bone marrow transplant (BMT) in a city hospital. Daughter of cricket commentator Sikandar Bakht hailing from Karachi, she was cured of mucopolysaccharidosis type 1 (MPS I) with the help of a BMT.
“Mucopolysaccharidosis is a rare condition that has the potential to impact the functioning of multiple organs, including eyes and brain,” the healthcare chain’s Chairman and Founder, Devi Shetty, told the media. Amyra was saved using the bone marrow of her father.
Dr Sunil Bhat, who treated the child, said mucopolysaccharidosis was a condition wherein there was an enzyme missing in the body. “Most children with such rare condition become handicapped by the age of 19. So, bone marrow transplant is one of the treatment options,” he explained.
“The girl did not have any siblings and we looked for an unrelated donor, but that was also not available. That’s why we chose to use one of the parents as donor, which is known as half-matched donor transplant,” Dr Bhat said. After four months of the transplant, the doctors found her doing well and the “enzymes have started to normalise.”
The child’s mother, Sadaf, said she approached Dr Bhat after a lot of research.
