California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Child Leukemia Patient Critical

Doctors at UC San Francisco say the next six weeks will be critical for an 11-month-old girl with leukemia who received a bone-marrow transplant from her grandmother. Amanda Chiang of Sacramento underwent the transplant Thursday at the UC Medical Center. Dr. Morton J. Cowan, who performed the transplant, said the procedure went without a hitch but that the child is now entering the period of greatest risk. “Three to six weeks is when we will see any evidence of toxicity, damage to the organs from chemotherapy and radiation therapy or reaction from the transplant,” he said. While there is a chance Amanda could reject her grandmother’s bone marrow, Cowan said there was a greater risk that the new marrow would react against his young patient, perhaps fatally. There is only a 20% chance that Amanda will be cured, but the transplant was her only chance for survival, Cowan said. Amanda, who was diagnosed with leukemia eight months ago, received the transplant from her paternal grandmother, Pei Kok, 58, who was the closest match found.