Media Release
Mangaluru, Oct 15: A 12-year-old girl from Shivamogga is back on her feet today, walking, playing and living life with her family. Two years ago, however, such an outcome seemed far from certain.
The child was first brought to Yenepoya Medical College and Hospital at the age of 10 with chronic kidney disease (CKD), a long-term condition in which the kidneys gradually lose their ability to function. Doctors initially managed her condition with medicines, but as her kidney function declined further, she eventually required dialysis.
Just a month later, something unusual happened. The child developed swelling around her head and face, along with lumps in her neck. Blood tests revealed a surprising finding: dangerously high levels of calcium in her blood. This was unexpected in a child already living with kidney disease, as such patients usually have low calcium levels. Standard treatments failed to bring her calcium levels down. Doctors eventually turned to a newer medicine, which finally succeeded in controlling them.
Further investigations, including PET and CT scans, revealed that the child had Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system and is most commonly seen in children. The cancer had already spread extensively to the bones of her skull and jaw, her ribs and limbs, and her lungs and abdomen. The disease had also resulted in a clot in the internal jugular vein, a vein in the neck.
Treating cancer in a child whose kidneys were already struggling was no simple task. Doctors had to carefully adjust medication doses to avoid further compromising her fragile kidney function while continuing to fight the cancer effectively.
Over the next eight to 10 months, the child faced one complication after another, including serious infections caused by a weakened immune system, a fungal lung infection, a blood clot in the veins of her brain that left her bedridden, and high blood pressure linked to her kidney disease. Her platelet counts also dropped and remained low for a prolonged period, eventually improving after several months of targeted treatment.
Despite these setbacks, the child's medical team persisted, adjusting treatment, monitoring her condition and supporting her through every complication. Eventually, follow-up PET scans delivered the news everyone had been hoping for: complete remission. The cancer was gone.
Today, the child continues to live with chronic kidney disease but, remarkably, no longer requires dialysis. She is ambulatory, and her blood counts have returned to normal.
The case was managed by Dr Rajesh Krishna and Dr Anusha Hegde of the Haemato-Oncology Team; Dr Santhosh Pai, Dr Aditya Kumar Mishra and Dr Preema D’Sa of the Nephrology Team; and Dr Sahana K S, Dr Arun Varghese and Dr Jumail Khader of the Paediatric Team at Yenepoya Medical College and Hospital, with support from the hospital administration and management.
The case is also a testament to medical teamwork, with kidney specialists, cancer specialists and paediatric doctors working hand in hand to give a young patient the best possible chance of returning to a normal childhood.
The child's parents have expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the doctors and the entire healthcare team who stood by their daughter through the most difficult year of her life.
The hospital management appreciated the efforts of the doctors and described the case as a milestone in the treatment of a complicated malignancy in a child with chronic kidney disease.