Health
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Indian doctor’s new stem cells technique for kidney transplant
From correspondents in Gujarat, India, 12:45 PM IST
Ahmedabad – A doctor in Gujarat claims he has pioneered a technique
of kidney transplantation using human embryonic stem cells that not
only overcomes the problem of organ rejection but also cuts treatment
cost dramatically.
Researchers across the world have been
grappling with the problem of rejection of the kidney transplanted in
the recipient. To overcome this situation, patients are given strong
immunosuppressants that leave them vulnerable to infections as they
lower immunity.
However, H.L. Trivedi of the Civil Hospital here
says his procedure does away with the need of immunosuppressants, thus
lowering the cost of the transplantation.
The treatment cost
comes down to Rs.100,000 ($2,100) from the present about Rs.1 million
($21,600). Expenditure on subsequent maintenance is also reduced from
around Rs.15,000 to a mere Rs.300.
‘Though work is going on in
Harvard, Stanford and Pittsburgh, we are the first in the world to use
human embryonic stem cells to generate new equivalent cells in
laboratory,’ Trivedi, director of the Institute of Kidney Diseases and
Research Centre at the hospital, told IANS.
Human embryonic stem
cells have the ability to develop into any other cell produced in the
human body. Thus they have the potential to treat a range of diseases
including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart disease, stroke,
spinal cord injuries and burns.
Kidney failure has emerged as the third most common killer across the world after cancer and heart diseases.
The
technique used by Trivedi and his team of doctors comprising Vineet
Mishra, Aruna Vanikar, Pranjal Modi and Veena Shah has given a new
lease of life to 20 patients not only from India but also Nigeria and
Kenya and the US who are afflicted with kidney failure, he said.
The
procedure essentially entails growing in the laboratory human embryonic
stem cells that have been derived from the female who is donating the
kidney. These stem cells are then co-cultured with the same person’s
bone marrow cells. This gives them ‘direction’ to develop into bone
marrow cells.
These cells are then infused into the recipient’s
liver and protect the kidney from rejection when it is transplanted.
Patients can resume normal activity within 10 days of the operation.
Ten-year-old
Riya Patel, Trivedi’s youngest patient, bears witness to the efficacy
of the procedure. With both her kidneys having failed, her US-based
parents approached several doctors in Nadiad of Kheda district,
adjoining Ahmedabad, where their relatives came to know about Trivedi.
‘Our
anxiety vanished after we talked to Dr. Trivedi,’ said Riya’s mother
Kavita, who donated her kidney to her daughter. Riya was operated upon
June 1 and has recovered well. ‘Riya is active like other children and
all her reports are normal,’ said her parents, who hope to soon take
their daughter with them to the US.
Nalin, 34, too had consulted
many doctors after his kidneys failed. Now, a fortnight after his
operation, the welder from the coastal town of Porbander in western
Gujarat said he was feeling fine.
‘He could not even walk before.
But now he is able to move about,’ said his wife Jyoti who donated her
kidney for the transplant. ‘Doctor sahe
b is like god for us,’ she said.
