Thalassemia Free Pakistan

May 8 is celebrated all over the world as Thalassemia Day. And to create awareness in Pakistan about this disease, PYR-Karachi Chapter organised free blood screening camp at Kashif Iqbal Thalassemia Care Center with the help of Thalassemia Free Pakistan. A site dedicated to create awareness and help Thalassematic patients in country. I would love to share this note posted on Facebook by Enlightening the Intellect. A marvelous piece of info.

What is Thalassemia?

Thalassemia is an inherited characteristic of the blood. It reduces the amount of hemoglobin in a human body, leading to anemia.

What is Anemia?

Deficiency or a lesser count of red blood cells, or too little hemoglobin in blood, is ‘Anemia’ - which simply means a shortage of blood. If the anemia is mild, it does no harm but if it is severe, the person becomes ill, as the tissues do not have sufficient oxygen.

There are two types of Thalassemic patients: ‘Major’ & ‘Minor’


What if you are Thalassemic Major?

If a person is “Thalassemia Major” patient then the person needs continuous blood transfusion. At present there are two treatments available for such patients:

1. Traditional Treatment
2. Bone marrow Transplant


What if you are Thalassemic Minor?

If one is “Thalassemia Minor” then there ISN’T anything to worry about, person may live his/her life to fullest.

The ONLY thing to keep in consideration is that a Thalassemic Minor MUST NOT marry another Thalassemic Minor because this match may result in the transfer of these Genes into the offspring. The chances of the offspring being Thalassemic are as follows:

• Thalassemic Major 50%
• Thalassemic Minor 25%
• Non-Thalassemic 25%


Treatment
Two different treatments are available at present, Traditional Treatment, and Bone-marrow Transplantation. The traditional treatment consists of three patterns:


Traditional Treatment

1. Blood Transfusion
Blood Transfusion is one of the most regularly practiced treatments for Thalassemia. To be precise, the treatment is not blood transfusion, but transfusion of red blood cells. These transfusions are necessary to provide the patient with a temporary supply of healthy red blood cells with normal hemoglobin capable of carrying the oxygen that the patient's body needs.

Today, most patients with a major form of Thalassemia receive red blood cell transfusions every two to three weeks. There are three reasons for blood transfusions.


a) To correct anemia and make sure that tissues get a normal amount of oxygen. This allows thalassemics to live and grow normally.

b) To let the bone marrow rest, so that the bones can develop normally and do not get deformed.

c) To slow down or prevent any increase in the size of spleen.


2. Splenectomy (Removing the Spleen)

When the spleen becomes too active and starts to destroy the red blood cell, transfusions become lesser and less effective. Then it may become necessary to take the spleen out through surgery. This operation is called "Splenectomy".

3. Desferal Treatment
Blood transfusions bring extra iron into the body and if transfusions are regular, iron gradually accumulates in the body. It is stored in certain organs, especially the liver, the heart, and the endocrine glands. The iron behaves like a foreign body, and in the end would damage the organs where it is deposited. Fortunately, there are drugs that help the drainage of iron out of the body. The medication used very regularly is Desferrioxamine, more commonly called ‘Desferal’. Desferal keeps the amount of iron under a safe level in a Thalassemic’s body.

Bone-marrow Transplantation
A Thalassemic's bone marrow is not able to make a normal amount of red blood cells. If the malfunctioning bone marrow can be replaced with a normal bone marrow, this problem is solved.

At present, only young people with a fully compatible donor can have a bone-marrow transplant. A transplant in Pakistan (Zia-ud-Din Hospital, Karachi) or India (Apollo Hospital, Chennai) costs the equivalent of $13,000 to $14,000 (Pak Rs. 9-10 Lakh). A transplant in any other country may vary in cost.

MY HUMBLE REQUEST:

Please get yourself tested because a little Prevention is better than cure.

For more info please visit. Thalassemia Free Pakistan

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