Chennai-based Datri Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry (DATRI), a non – governmental organisation (NGO) recently organised the meeting of the donor and recipient of India’s first successful unrelated Blood Stem Cell transplant facilitated by an Indian registry.

DATRI currently has more than 45,000 registered volunteer donors. “There are many patients in India who can benefit from Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) transplant. As per the ICMR data there were an estimated 104,239 cases of leukaemia in 2010, which is projected to increase to 117,649 in 2015 and 132,574 in 2020. There is very low awareness about PBSC and very few registered donors in India hence the probability of finding a donor is very low. Seeing Pranathi today, gives us an immense sense of achievement. We hope that through this meeting today, we would be able to awaken many more people to join this life-saving campaign,” said Raghu Rajagopal, CEO of DATRI.

Dr Senthil Rajappa, senior consultant and head, Dept of Medical Oncology, Indo American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, Hyderabad said, “Many patients suffering from life-threatening diseases like leukemia, lymphoma, can be given a new lease of life through peripheral blood stem cell transplants (PBSC). DATRI is doing a commendable job in creating awareness and facilitating blood stem cell donation in India.”

At CMC Vellore, one year old Pranathi Gondu was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) in January 2011 and doctors treating her at CMC suggested to go for a blood stem cell transplant. CMC approached DATRI to search for a donor in their registry. In one of the donor drives conducted by DATRI, Sadineni Venkateshwara Rao from Khammam had registered as a volunteer donor. He was found to be an uneralted genetic match for Pranathi. After the necessary medical tests, he donated blood stem cells in June 2011 during a four hour out-patient procedure in the blood bank at Apollo Specialty Hospitals, Chennai. CMC Vellore completed Blood Stem Cell transplant for Pranathi in July 2011. Pranathi started recovering and now has completed two years and four months after transplant.

PBSC transplant is successfully used the world over to cure cases of leukaemia, aplastic anemia, thalassemia, bone marrow dysplasia and other such disorders. Blood Stem cells for the transplantation are obtained from the bone marrow or peripheral blood by apheresis, donated by Tissue (HLA) matched donors or umbilical cord blood. The goal of the transplant is to rebuild the recipient's blood cells and immune system and hopefully cure the underlying ailment. In case a patient needs a transplant, there is only 25 per cent chance of finding a match within his family. However, 75 per cent of patients do not find a suitable donor in their family. In such cases there is a need to find an unrelated donor or a cord blood unit through the donor registries. With very few registered donors available in India, the possibility of finding a match for an Indian anywhere in the world is low.

DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry is working towards creating a wide and diverse database of potential donors that can be accessed by any patient, living anywhere in the world, in need of a stem cell transplant.