Karachi, September 13: The dependence of children suffering from thalassaemia on blood transfusion after every short interval can be minimised or even done away with by giving hydroxyurea or hydrea to them, haematologist Dr Saqib Hussain Ansari told a press conference on Sunday. The claim was made by Dr Ansari, who has been running Omair Sana Foundation for Thalassaemic children for the past several years and conducting research on genetic blood diseases in Pakistan, at the press conference held at the Karachi Press Club.

Another haematologist, Dr Tahir Sultan Shamsi, was also present.

Dr Ansari told the media that he found during his research work that the use of hydroxyurea or hydrea ended the dependence of blood transfusion in 41 per cent of 152 children suffering from blood disorders due to five of 17 genetic disorders that resulted in Thalassaemia Major.

Thalassaemia is a hereditary disease in which children need fresh blood from donors after short intervals for their entire life, as their bodies are unable to produce haemoglobin, a vital part of blood to remain alive and healthy.The drug (hydroxyurea or hydrea) when given to thalassaemic children also reduced the dependence of blood transfusion to half among 39 per cent children, while it remained ineffective in remaining 20 to 21 per cent patients, he claimed.

The research work, initiated in the year 2003, was carried out at the National Institute of Blood Diseases (NIBD) and Omair Sana Foundation where children with genetic blood disorders are brought for treatment.

Dr Ansari claimed that his research had also been published in eminent US Medical Journal `Journal of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology` in 2007 and 2011.

He told the media that he started the use of drug in 23 patients in 2003 and after 10 years of hectic research, it was discovered that the drug was effective in children suffering from thalassaemia due to five of the total 17 genetic disorders that caused thalassaemia and some other genetic blood disorders.

`I have completed my PhD on the same topic and my research revealed that use of this drug can end or minimize dependence of blood in most of the children,` he said.

He claimed it was found that use of hydrea did not result in increasing the sizes of spleen or livers of affected patients.According to him, hydroxyrea is an FDA-approved drug for patients suffering from sickle cell anaemia and is being used in the US for the past 20 years. He said that the use of this drug also produced very encouraging results in Iran and India.

He said that the anti-neoplastic drug improved the health of thalassaemic children, who were given the drug, as their weight and appetite improved while their interest in playing and other healthy activities also enhanced.

His research showed that in Pakistan, 37 per cent patients were found with both alpha and beta thalassaemia disorders, said Dr Ansari.

Following his research, diagnosis of genetic disorders resulting in thalassaemia major has become immensely important for the treatment of such patients, he added.

`Every year, 5,000 to 8,000 patients with beta thalassaemia are born in Pakistan, while there are around 9.8 million carriers of this disease in the country,` he said.

However, both haematologists were of the opinion that the anti-neoplastic drug was still undergoing experiments and it should only be used for research purposes in the supervision of expert haematologists unless it was approved by the world health agencies and institutions.

This news was published in Daily Dawn Karachi, September 10th, 2012.