A 14-year-old girl has been cured of a rare blood disorder that affects one or two people per million following a successful bone marrow transplant at Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin.
Professor Owen Smith is a Consultant Paediatric Haematologist at the Dublin hospital. He lead the treatment of Claire McNamara and he joined Jonathan Healy on Newstalk Lunchtime to discuss the story.
He says the girl who underwent the transplant "has a specific form of PNH, which is the [more common] form of PNH in children. Now it is incredibly rare in children so what she presented with was her bone marrow failed, basically, and what was driving that was the PNH process".
Prof Smith says Claire's sister was not matching for a bone marrow transplant, so they looked for an unrelated donor - which they fortunately managed to find in Germany.
"From the time we went to looking for a donor to the time we transplanted was almost Olympic timing," he said, citing Germany's efficiency in turning the donor around.
"This is the only form of cure for PNH, so everybody is happy about the outcome for Claire," Prof Smith added.
He also discussed the cost of treating PNH, following the recent news that the HSE has agreed to spend almost €430,000 a year on drugs for some PNH patients.
You can listen to the full interview below:
