A 11 year old boy from Raipur gets new lease of life at Continental Hospitals

Hyderabad, August 25th, 2020: A team of experts from the Continental Hospitals, one of the leading healthcare providers in the city, gave a new lease to the life of a 11-year-old boy, who was suffering from acute leukaemia also known as the deadly blood cancer in common parlance.

Admitted to the Continental Cancer Center, the boy, requiring bone marrow transplant, was put under total body irradiation (TBI) or the process of putting the whole body under radiation. Unlike targeted radiation therapy, TBI is administered to prepare the human body to undergo stem cell or bone marrow transplant.

Commenting on the complexity of the patient’s condition and the treatment process, Dr. Nindra Armugam, Senior Consultant Radiation Oncologist, Continental Hospitals, who led the team of experts to conduct procedure said, “As a part of the treatment and conditioning and kill all leukaemia cells, the patient was put through total body irradiation, shielding his vital organs like lungs and kidneys. The boy tolerated the three-day TBI process with ease, and subsequently underwent bone marrow transplant, which was successfully on all medical/treatment parameters.”

Key aspects of Total Body Irradiation

• TBI alongside chemotherapy helps to kill off leukaemia, lymphoma, or myeloma cells in the bone marrow
• TBI also causes depression of the immune system (immunosuppression). This helps to prevent a rejection of the donor stem cells
• Patient may have TBI before or after the chemotherapy portion of the conditioning regimen
• The entire body is irradiated by a beam of high-energy photons from a linear accelerator (lung and renal shielding done in most cases)
• TBI is given in very low doses, several times per day, over 3-5 five days
• Doses of total body irradiation used in bone marrow transplantation typically range from 10 to >12 Gy, delivered across multiple fractions to minimise toxicities to the patient

Continental Hospitals is among the very few healthcare providers in the country that has world-class equipment and best-in-class medical team to conduct complex procedures like the total body irradiation. The team of experts consisting of Dr. N Armugam, Physicist Sathyasheelan, and Dr. S K Gupta are rated among the best professionals to perform such intricate surgical procedures.

After being put under observation for 31 days, the child, who is currently studying 6th class was discharged on 5^th August, 2020 and will be returning to his regular routine soon, like any other normal child of his age.

About Continental Hospitals:

Continental Hospital is a NABH and JCI-accredited facility in Hyderabad offering multi-specialty tertiary and quaternary care services. The hospital has a capacity of 750 beds with 250 operational beds currently. The hospital has Green OT, Level 3 NICU and PICU, and it’s known for efficient critical care team. The hospital has state-of-the-art facilities and medical equipment, as well as the latest communication and information technology. Key specialties include Cardiac Sciences, Neurosciences, Gastroenterology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oncology, Orthopedics and Emergency Medicine.

Continental Hospitals is a part of IHH Healthcare, a leading premium integrated healthcare provider with a network of 84 hospitals and more than 16,000 licensed beds. It is one of the largest healthcare groups in the world by market capitalization and is listed in the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia and Main Board of SGX-ST. IHH is a leading player in the home markets of Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and India, and in their key growth markets of China and Hong Kong.