London: An eight-year-old girl has been spared a lifetime of medication thanks to the UK’s first ever stem cell transplant.
According to media reports, 8-year-old Aditi Shankar had a kidney transplant, but his immune system was rejecting it. And for the dysfunction of the system, the girl had to take medicines for life.
Doctors told PA News that Aditi Shankar’s immune system was reprogrammed after the stem cell transplant and as a result her body recognized the new kidney as its own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBKaKhEb4gU
Doctors said this was possible because the stem cell transplant and the kidney came from the same donor, Aditi’s mother. Now the new kidney is functioning without medication.
It should be noted that immunosuppressant drugs are often given after transplant surgery, which work to reduce the function of the immune system, which increases the risk of infection among other complications.
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