Media Release

Udupi, Mar 12: A 3-year-old girl diagnosed with high-risk Neuroblastoma (a type of cancer) received lifesaving immunotherapy called Dinutuximab beta at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. The only treatment that could cure her of this cancer was the immunotherapy.

High risk neuroblastoma is a rare and complex cancer in childhood, the treatment of which requires chemotherapy, surgery, bone marrow transplantation, radiation therapy and immunotherapy thus requiring multidisciplinary team effort. Dinutuximab beta is a recently approved immunotherapy drug which selectively binds to the neuroblastoma cancer cells thus eliminating the disease which has increased survival in these children by 30-40%. The medicine needs to be imported currently.

The challenge in this case was delivering the immunotherapy and arranging the finances to import the medicine. Dr Vasudeva Bhat K, professor and head of the department said “Immunotherapy in children with cancer is the way forward which will help to reduce the side effects secondary to chemotherapy and further improve survival”.

The funding was possible through multiple foundations like Save the dreams, Manipal Foundation and One Good Step Foundation.

Dr Archana M V, associate professor in the department mentioned that “This is the first patient to have undergone a successful immunotherapy course in this coastal region of the Karnataka for this indication and emphasised the importance of team work”. The child is 12 months post therapy and ready to go to school.

Dr Avinash Shetty, the medical superintendent, praised the collaborative efforts of the doctors in the department of pediatric oncology and allied cancer specialties, along with the nursing staff, in saving the life of this child with cancer. This achievement brings a new ray of hope to patients in coastal Karnataka and the surrounding districts