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LifeCell’s pioneering efforts in community cord blood banking wins accolades from IAP

Chennai: Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) that is committed to health and well-bring of all children today shared its appreciation for LifeCell’s pioneering works in community cord blood banking. With the recent success of India’s first dual cord blood transplant, the medical body acknowledged community cord blood banking as a novel, life-saving measure and also reiterated the need for private organizations timely support in enabling path-breaking treatment modalities that are beneficial to the society.

Sharing his views, Dr. Amar Verma, President Genetics Chapter, Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), said “It was interesting to note the success of double unrelated cord blood cell transplantation in a patient of Aplastic Anemia at Nasik. The successful procedure indeed underlines the need of cord blood banking for future needs. This has reduced the cost of retrieval in India. I hope this draws the attention to the need of a large number. of patients awaiting treatment for conditions like Aplastic Anemia. I wish for this type of endevor in every part of the country.”

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Mayur Abhaya, MD, LifeCell International, said “We are truly humbled by this recognition from a reputed medical body like IAP. It is encouraging to see the medical fraternity take note of our efforts in pioneering improved treatment options in the country. With this confidence we are looking forward to further strengthen our support to medical practitioners and are confident that our efforts will continue to benefit more and more Indians.”

Community Cord Blood Banking, a unique and innovative stem cell banking initiative that was introduced by LifeCell in 2017, helped save a seven-year-old girl suffering from aplastic anaemia – a rare and serious blood disorder when all other possible treatments failed. A team of senior doctors from LOTUS Institute of Haematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, successfully conducted a double-unit cord blood transplant to save the life of Child from Nashik, Maharashtra.

This transplant was, in particular, challenging because there were no appropriate bone marrow donors and the cost of retrieval of matching units from public cord blood banks would have been quite high. As members of LifeCell Community Bank, the parents placed a matching request for two cord blood units after the child’s sibling was found to be only a 50% (4/8) match. Two high-quality matches (⅞) were found in the registry, which fulfilled the requirement for Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB) transplantation.

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