Uttar Pradesh: Military doctors achieve a rare medical feat, salvage child’s eye

LUCKNOW: Celebrating the first birthday of their son, a couple of Baghpat district was busy capturing happy moments on their smartphones. But one of the images caught the attention of the kid's mother as it captured the reflection of her son’s eye which glowed white following camera flash.
After extensive medical investigation it was found that the minor had retinoblastoma—a type of eye cancer in children.The kid lost his left eye and there was danger of losing the right one too. But a team of doctors, led by UP ophthalmologist of colonel rank, salvaged the boy’s eye by conducting the military's first successful plaque brachytherapy.

The feat was achieved on July 9 and army hospital research and referral (AHRR) Delhi became the second government hospital to gain expertise in plaque brachytherapy. Identified as Arav Tomar, the four-year-old has now normal vision.
Team was led by Col Sanjay Mishra, a Mau district lad and country's youngest and highest decorated medical officer with four sena medals. He is the HOD of ophthalmology AHRR and his team comprised ocular oncologist Lt Col Sonali Vinay Kumar, Lt Col Ashok Kumar, HOD radiation oncology unit and scientist Dr Manoj K Semwal.
For the operation, the army procured Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) indigenous developed Ruthenium 106 plaque for the medical procedure.
Speaking to TOI, Lt Col Sonali Vinay Kumar, who conducted the operation, said, “Last year we got nearly 18 referrals of retinoblastoma cases from across the country and in majority of the cases, the cancer was in the last stage or beyond help. In Arav's case, the left eye had to be enucleated as the tumour was spreading towards brain—risking his life. But we managed to save his right eye by adopting plaque brachytherapy.”
“The plaque brachytherapy is a form of local radiation exposure therapy targeting only the affected area in the retina, and provides focused treatment of eye cancer without damaging the surrounding normal structure. This is one of the safest treatments for retinoblastoma,” said the officer, who has been a specialist in the field for 11 years. She hails from Pune.
Colonel Sanjay Mishra said, “In Arav’s case multiple courses of chemotherapy and cryotherapy had failed to correct the disorder as the cancer was recurring. Our team at AHRR contacted BARC and acquired indigenous developed Ruthenium plaque. Each plaque costs around Rs 60,000 but it’s cheaper than chemotherapy.” “Last week our team, especially Lt Col Sonali Vinay Kumar, who has done her specialization in plaque brachytherapy from LV Prasad eye hospital, Hyderabad, created history by conducting military's first plaque brachytherapy. Now AHRR is the second government medical facility in the country to achieve this landmark,” he added.
Meanwhile, Aarav’s mother Sonika Chaudhary who herself is a nursing officer in a private hospital praised the efforts of military doctors for saving her son’s life and eye. “After three years my son has clear vision and all thanks to military doctors,” he told TOI.