Mumbai doctors give woman new life, cure rare disease

Life could not have been worse for this 56-year-old woman, who had to carry an oxygen cylinder even to the washroom. But doctors have brought her travails to an end. Sheena was suffering from a rare lung disease, found in one of 10 lakh people.

“Sheena came to us with progressive breathlessness complaint. She had this problem for the last five years, which worsened in the last two-and-a-half years. She had to use oxygen even to go to the bathroom and hence special attachments in tubes were made for her,” said Dr Prahlad Prabhudesai, chest physician, Lilavati Hospital & Research Centre.

Sheena was initially treated for tuberculosis and fibrosis. Later, she was diagnosed with a condition called “alveolar proteinosis”.

“This is a disease wherein the lung produces excess fat and protein, which deposits in the areas of the lung responsible for oxygenation and hence oxygen supply is jeopardised. Several factors are thought to contribute to the disease such as blood cancer, environmental pollutants and infections like tuberculosis. When no factor is evident, the condition is termed idiopathic alveolar lipoproteinosis as in this case,” said Dr Prabhudesai.

Dr Prabhudesai along with Dr Satish Kulkarni, anaesthetist from Lilavati Hospital, decided to attempt a rarely performed complex procedure. “It consisted of washing the lungs with saline, with the aid of gravity. It involves injecting 8-10 litres of saline in the lung, 600ml each time. This demands a double-lumen tube — one for the procedure and the other to make sure the patient breathes under anaesthesia,” said Dr Prabhudesai.

Sheena underwent this procedure thrice in the last two-and-a-half years. “Her recovery has been miraculous. She can now lead a normal life,” said Dr Prabhudesai.

For the last four months, Sheena is under a new therapy called GM CSF, wherein she is has to get injections everyday.