Ilambazar woman treated at SSKM after correction of rare blood disorder
The Statesman | 9 December 2025
A 68-year-old woman from Ilambazar in Birbhum district underwent successful surgery at state-run SSKM hospital after a rare blood disorder complicated what would otherwise have been a routine orthopaedic intervention.
Hospital officials said the patient, Anjana Chattaraj, had been admitted on 4 November at SSKM with a fracture of the left neck of femur and a distal radius fracture in her left wrist, injuries sustained in an accident nearly two weeks earlier. While the wrist fracture was managed conservatively, the femoral injury required surgical repair. However, during the pre-anaesthesia check-up, doctors detected an unusually high haemoglobin level of 22 g/dL. Further evaluation revealed polycythaemia, a rare myeloproliferative neoplasm characterised by an abnormal increase in red blood cells, causing dangerous blood viscosity. The condition significantly heightens the risk of stroke, heart attack and deep vein thrombosis — making immediate surgery unsafe. With the patient already suffering from long-standing hypertension, the medical team sought a haematology consultation.
Specialists advised that Chattaraj’s haemoglobin level must be reduced below 15 g/dL, and her INR (standardised measure of how long it takes for blood to clot) maintained under 1.5, before any anaesthesia could be administered. Her case was referred to the Kolkata Medical College and Hospital Haematology OPD, where doctors prescribed a series of therapeutic phlebotomy (medical procedure of removing blood from a vein), sessions over a 12-15-day period. Three phlebotomy procedures were performed on 20, 24 and 27 November. The interventions produced steady progress: haemoglobin levels dropped from 22 g/dL on 15 November to 20.2 g/dL on 22 November, then to 18.5 g/dL on 26 November, finally reaching 17.4 g/dL on 27 November.
On Thursday, her haemoglobin recorded 15 g/dL and INR 1.3, clearing her for surgery. Hospital sources confirmed that the orthopaedic procedure was completed “uneventfully” earlier in the day. A medical team from SSKM, with orthopaedic Prof Mukul Bhattacharya, Prof Dibyendu Biswar, Dr Debajyoti Sarkar, Dr Supriyo Sarkar along with anaesthesiologists Prof. Parvin Banu, Dr Subhra Kanti Sen Gupta, Dr Debashis Mallick, performed the entire procedure. Chattaraj is now recovering under close observation. Doctors described the case as “clinically uncommon.”