Bengaluru: In a remarkable medical achievement, the State-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO) has successfully performed a complex bone marrow transplant (BMT) on a nine-year-old boy battling a relapsed Wilms’ tumor — a rare kidney cancer — despite the child having only one functioning kidney. The milestone further reinforces Kidwai’s standing as one of India’s foremost public-sector cancer care centres.
The patient, Yuvraj (name changed), was first diagnosed in December 2022 and underwent an intensive treatment protocol including chemotherapy, complete removal of the left kidney (nephrectomy), and radiation therapy. His cancer resurfaced in April 2025, leaving his family — his mother a domestic worker and his father a daily-wage labourer — with little financial capacity to pursue advanced interventions.
The high-risk transplant was performed by Dr. Vasundhara Kailasnath, Associate Professor – BMT, and her multidisciplinary team at Kidwai. They determined that high-dose chemotherapy followed by BMT offered the child the best chance of long-term survival, despite the elevated risks associated with a single kidney, previous chemotherapy exposure and the possibility of severe, life-threatening infections.
During the child’s discharge on Saturday evening, Medical Education & Skill Development Minister Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil congratulated the team for their exemplary work, calling the procedure a significant contribution to Karnataka’s public healthcare system.
Kidwai Director Dr. Naveen T noted that Karnataka’s only State-run BMT Unit, functional since April 2022, has now completed 130 transplant procedures, marking a major step forward in affordable and accessible cancer care.
In another key development, Kidwai formally received the HOTA (Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994) licence for its BMT services. The certification places Kidwai among the select hospitals in Karnataka authorised to conduct regulated transplant procedures. Minister Dr. Patil officially handed over the HOTA licence to Dr. Naveen, terming it a “significant milestone” for the institute’s growing national stature.
ಇದನ್ನೂ ಓದಿ: ಬಾಳಿಗಾಗಿ ಹೋರಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಬಾಲಕನಿಗೆ ಕಿದ್ವಾಯಿ ಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಪರೂಪದ BMT; ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಪರೂಪದ HOTA ಅನುಮತಿ ಪಡೆದ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ
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