The country’s second bone marrow transplant was successfully performed on a cancer patient at the BMT unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday.
Professor Dr MA Khan, head of haematology department and programme director of the bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit, has confirmed the news to the Dhaka Tribune.
A team of trained Bangladeshi doctors, nurses and technologists led by Dr Khan implanted stem cells into the body of 51-year-old retired army sergeant Alamgir Hossain, in a procedure that lasted around one and a half hours.
Although the country’s first ever BMT procedure was carried out by a pool of national and international specialists, the latest transplant was carried out by mostly local medical officials, assisted by just two nurses from the Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital.
Alamgir was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer known as multiple myeloma in December 2009 and had been receiving treatment at the capital’s Combined Military Hospital.
Although stem cells were initially collected from Alamgir last October, the BMT procedure could not be carried out then as the patient was not physically fit at the time, Dr MA Khan said.
Chemotherapy was given to Alamgir on Wednesday and Thursday to prepare him for the procedure, the doctor said, adding that stem cells were collected again from the patient a few days back.
Meanwhile, Omar Ali, the first patient to successfully undergo a BMT procedure in the country, has recently left the hospital.
“His [Omar’s] physical condition is now fine. The number of white blood cells and platelets are coming to a normal figure and he is regaining his weight. Hopefully, he would join work within two or three months,” Dr Khan said.
Several BMT specialists told the Dhaka Tribune that the transplant was a five-stage process. The stages were: physical examination – assessing general level of health; harvesting – the process of obtaining the stem cells; conditioning – preparing the patient’s body for the procedure; transplanting the stem cells; and recovery – during which patients are monitored for any complications or side effects.