New Delhi based BLK Super Speciality Hospital is the first hospital in India to introduce Extracorporeal Photopheresis (ECP). This is an advanced mode of therapy to treat patients with graft versus host disease (GVHD) following transplants.

Extracorporeal Photopheresis is an intensive procedure which involves the removal and collection of a portion of a patient’s blood cells mainly white blood cells (eglymphocytes). This therapy is highly used for treating patients with problems associated with cutaneous (skin) T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) such as mycosis fungoides (MF) or Sezary syndrome.

One of the most advanced technologies of its kind, ECP is a procedure in which blood is removed from the body and treated with ultraviolet light and drugs that become active when exposed to light, the blood then returned to the body. This offers a ray of hope for patients suffering from GVHD mainly involving the skin and gastro intestinal tract. ECP minimizes any kind of adverse effects on patient’s organs such as kidney, liver, heart, and lungs with the only reported incidence of side effects at less than 0.003 per cent. ECP treatment does not take a heavy toll on the patient’s immune system but only helps in reducing and eliminating their needs of immune suppressive therapies.

Department of Hemato-Oncology & Bone Marrow Transplantation at BLK Super Specialty Hospital has successfully completed over 500 transplants and introduced ECP for the first time for Indian patients.