Dr Vijay Ramanan is the FIRST individual Patron of European Society of Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant in India. He heads the Ruby Hall Clinic Centre for Bone Marrow Transplant (RHCBMT) is the one of best in India and most innovative in Asia.

RHCBMT is a stand alone dedicated facility, equipped with ultra-modern infrastructure and internationally trained, widely experienced faculty. The Centre is supported by state-of-the-art laboratory services and transfusion services, along with a fully equipped radiation Oncology unit with facility for total body irradiation. The Centre offers both allogenic and autologous transplant using bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells and cord blood stem cells for various benign and malignant disorders like Thalassemia, Aplastic Anaemia, Leukemia, Lymphomas, Multiple Myelomas, autoimmune disorders and Advanced Solid Tumors.

KEY DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

• RHC Centre for Bone Marrow Transplant is one of the largest Centres of its kind in Western India.
• The Centre has performed the maximum number of transplants in western India with cord blood and Haploidentical grafts.
• Each room is supported by separate HEPA filter with triple level air filtration.
• Transplants are routinely performed for children as well as adults.
• The Centre is credited with Pune’s First successful cord (Match Unrelated Donor) and Haploidentical Transplants for Thalassaemia.
• The Centre contributes data to EBMT, Asia-Pacific BMT, Indian Stem cell registry Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Bone marrow transplantation is a procedure wherein stem cells from bone marrow that produce various blood cells like red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are injected into a recipient. These stem cells are also referred to as hematopoietic stem cells. Nowadays, hematopoietic stem cells may also be obtained from peripheral blood after treatment with certain growth factors or from umbilical cord. Thus, the term “Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation” is now preferred to “Bone marrow transplantation” to include these other sources of hematopoietic stem cells.

TThe bone marrow is a soft, spongy portion within a bone. It contains immature cells called stem cells that have a continuous ability to produce different types of blood cells i.e. red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. These are released into the blood stream. Bone marrow is of two types, red marrow and yellow marrow. In children, most of the marrow is red marrow and is rich in stem cells. In adults, however, a large portion of the bone marrow is converted into yellow marrow due to infiltration of fat cells. Red marrow in adults is usually restricted to a few bones like the hip bones, breast bone, ribs, shoulder blades, skull, backbone, and the ends of the arm and thigh bones.

BMT is actually means infusion of stem cells (collected either from bone marrow or peripheral blood or cord blood) into the recipient. The type of bone marrow that is used for the transplant distinguishes the different types of BMT.

• Autologous BMT is done by using the patient’s own stem cells.
• Allogeneic BMT involves using the stem cells of a donor. The donor may be a relative, usually a brother or sister, or an unrelated (anonymous) donor. The donor needs to be Histocompatible Leukocyte antigen (HLA) match.

USP:

• FIRST TOTAL BODY IRRADIATION FACILITY in Western India.
• FIRST INDIVIDUAL PATRON of EBMT in India. CIC-10173.
• FIRST TWIN TRANSPLANT in India.
• FIRST UNRELATED CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANT for Thalassaemia in Western India.
• FIRST HAPLOIDENTICAL(Half Match) transplant for Thalassaemia and leukaemia in India.
• DATA collated with Asia Pacific BMT.
• FIRST Centre to have Laminar Hood inside BMT.
• Over 250 transplants done till date for various indications with combined survival of over 75% for allogenic and 98% for autologous transplants.