Bangalore: A 27-year old woman, suffering from severe disability for the past one year following an accident, has succesfully underwent brain stemcell transplant surgery, the first such case in the country, doctors at a superspeciality hospital here claimed on Saturday.

A team of Neurosurgeons led by Dr N K Venkataramana, Chief Neurosurgeon and Vice-Chairman, BGS Global Hospitals, carried out the complex surgery on Madhu Mallika who sustained the severe brain injury in an accident last year.

"The patient was suffering from altered sensorium, severe cognitive dysfunction and lack of movement in limbs. Following the surgery, she has now regained full consciousness, memory, communication abilities and purposive movements in limbs," Venkataramana told reporters here.

The patient was admitted in an unconscious state with severe injury and on first examination doctors gave her only 20 per cent chances for survival, he claimed.

"It was perplexing that the woman did not show any improvement despite all available treatment in the last one year and ultimately the possibility of stemcell therapy was considered after discussions with her family and it proved successful," Chief Neurosurgeon said.

"This is an eye opener that there is a possibility of reactivating brain cells following injury with very gratifying clinical results. To our knowledge such attempts were made only in China. This is the first attempt in the country and India is the second country in the world to use such therapy," he said.

However, a lot more need to be understood about stemcell therapy in head injuries including the time of intervention and quantity of cells to be used depending upon the injury, Venkataramana said, adding, a pilot study would be conducted at BGS Global Hospitals for the purpose.

For nearly five years, the hospital has been involved in stemcell therapy for neurodegenerative disorders and spinal cord injury and over the years it has established safety standards for stemcell transplants in the brain.

Dr Satish Totey, Chief Scientific Officer, Stempeutics Research Pvt Ltd, where the stemcells were prepared, said they were looking at bringing out stemcells as a "product" by 2011.

Mallika, who underwent the surgery wherein bone marrow derived mesenchymal stemcells were transplanted on both sides of her brain on March 18 last, was discharged on April 3.

"At the time of discharge, she was on PEG feeding, urinary catheter, no useful limb movements and no verbal response. It is only a month after the transplantation that she started showing rapid improvement in her brain functions," Venkataramana said.

She became conscious, started verbalising and was able to communicate with her parents, able to recognise family and friends and started moving her hands and legs purposefully.

Her memory had recovered completely, eye movements were full and vision was normal. She was undergoing physiotherapy as she had developed severe stiffness in joints due to
prolonged stay in bed, he said.

"It may take her a couple of months to be more active," Venkataramana said, claiming the hospital charged only for the stemcells which cost nearly Rs 75,000.