Jammu, Nov 17 (IANS) The Indian Army's Northern Command hospital at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir has successfully performed bone marrow transplant in a cancer patient, becoming the first institution in the state to offer this specialised treatment, officials said Tuesday.

The process was performed on a 50-year-old serving soldier, suffering from multiple myeloma (a cancer of the white blood cells), Northern Command spokesman Maj. S.K. Rathi said.

The transplant was carried out Oct 29 and the patient is responding positively, he added.

The patient underwent chemotherapy at the hospital and after the disease was brought under control, the autologous stem cell transplant was performed.

Lt.Col. Tarun Verma, a clinical haematologist, performed the transplant procedure in collaboration with the Regional Cancer Centre and Transfusion Medicine Department of the Government Medical College, Jammu.

The procedure was overseen by cardiologist Col. Prashant Bharadwaj, the head of the Medicine department, while commandant Maj.Gen. Harinder Singh ensured that all the necessary drugs and equipment were procured on priority to perform this life saving procedure, the spokesman said.

The patient is now convalescing in Command Hospital. More transplants, both autologous and allogenic, are planned in future, he added.

Bone marrow transplantation consists of destroying the diseased bone marrow with chemotherapy and replacing it with normally functioning marrow cells. It is a highly specialised procedure, performed in a handful of transplant centres in the country, which has now been made available in Jammu and Kashmir.