Baby with rare condition treated at city hospital

The baby had monogenic inflammatory bowel disease

Doctors at Rainbow Children’s Hospital have treated a baby with a rare genetic condition, who had a bone marrow transplant, and subsequently survived a stint on an ECMO machine. The child is doing well.

When six-week-old Lochen was brought to the hospital, it was for diarrhoea and severe dehydration. While parents suspected a simple infection, repeated hospitalisation for over four months led to investigation and Lochen was diagnosed with monogenic inflammatory bowel disease caused by a genetic mutation. The doctors said it was caused by IL-10 R deficiency.

“The only available treatment was an early bone marrow transplant,” said R. Karthik Narayanan, senior consultant at the paediatric intensive care unit, who treated the child.