CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2017; 38(03): 398-400
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_110_17
Short Communication

Affordable and Safe Health Care for All Children: Lessons Learned from the Use of Peg‑asparaginase in a Developing Country

Dhaarani Jayaraman
Department of Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and BMT, Apollo Cancer Institutes, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Ramya Uppuluri
Department of Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and BMT, Apollo Cancer Institutes, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Venkateswaran Vellaichamy Swaminathan
Department of Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and BMT, Apollo Cancer Institutes, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Meena Sivasankaran
Department of Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and BMT, Apollo Cancer Institutes, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Shivani Patel
Department of Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and BMT, Apollo Cancer Institutes, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Revathi Raj
Department of Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and BMT, Apollo Cancer Institutes, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
› Author Affiliations
Financial support and sponsorship Nil.

Abstract

Peg-asparaginase has widely replaced the use of conventional asparaginase in treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in developed countries. In developing countries like India, with financial constraints being a part of clinical challenge to the treatment of cancers, uniform use of Peg-asparaginase in all children is not practically possible. However, we found by a retrospective analysis of 211 children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, uniform use of this drug was feasible with indigenous techniques like storing the drug with strict cold chain maintenance and sharing the drug amongst 2 or 3 patients to reduce the burden on each family. We have not found increased rates of infection or any loss of efficacy of the drug due to prolonged storage.



Publication History

Article published online:
04 July 2021

© 2017. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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