Gleneagles Hospital helps brain cancer patient to recover through indigenous CAR-T cell therapy

A 49-year-old patient who was diagnosed with a rare life-threatening form of brain lymphoma was successfully treated using advanced and indigenous cell therapy at a private hospital in Chennai.

V. Arun Ramanan, Clinical Lead and Senior Consultant (Medical Oncology), Gleneagles Hospital Chennai, on Wednesday, said before a few months the patient Karnan Madhusudhanan was admitted to the hospital with complaints of persistent headache, giddiness, difficulties in walking and using his left arm. He was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain cancer called primary central nervous system lymphoma. The patient, despite being given chemotherapy and other first-line treatments, could not neutralise the lymphoma. The hospital proposed to treat him with NexCAR19 (talicabtagene autoleucel), an indigenous CAR-T cell therapy. This involved collecting the patient’s immune cells through a specialised procedure called leukapheresis and infusing these back into the body as CAR-T cells. The procedure helped the cells to modify, recognise, and attack the cancer cells. 

Following the treatment, the patient had developed several serious health complications associated with the CAR-T cell therapy, but the dedicated multidisciplinary team of medical specialists comprising medical oncology, haematology, infectious diseases, intensive care and the nursing team, helped in providing the necessary recovery to the patient. Today, the patient from Andhra Pradesh has recovered fully and is set to lead a normal life, Dr. Arun said. 

S. Niranjani, Chief Operating Officer and Hospital Head of Gleneagles Hospital and R.Y. Bharath Kanth Reddy, Chief Executive Officer, Chennai and Hyderabad clusters, also spoke on the occasion.