Medical Centric

Bone Marrow Transplant: What You Need to Know

Uncategorized / By

Bone Marrow Transplant

  • The bone marrow is a fatty, spongy tissue that is responsible for the development of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
  • The three are important components of the blood and are essential for basic life functions.
  • Damage to the bone marrow can be a result of infection, disease, or chemotherapy. The damage can prove to be life-threatening as the development of blood cells and platelets is compromised.
  • Damaged or destroyed bone marrows have to be replaced in a procedure known as a bone marrow transplant.
  • This involves transplanting blood stem cells that go to the bone marrow, producing new blood cells, and helping out in the development of new bone marrow.
  • It is a process of replacing damaged stem cells with healthy ones that come from a donor that matches with the patient requiring the bone marrow transplant.
  • The cells can also come from the patient’s body.
  • They may be taken before a medical procedure such as chemotherapy and harvested to be used later if required.
    Let’s look at bone marrow transplant in detail:

Who Needs a Bone Marrow Transplant?

A bone marrow transplant is required when a person’s bone marrow is not healthy enough to perform its functions. This may be due to conditions such as:

  1. Cancers affecting the marrow such as lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma.
  2. Aplastic anemia, which affects the marrow and causes it to stop making blood cells.
  3. Thalassemia, a genetic disorder that causes the body to make abnormal hemoglobin.
  4. Damage to the bone marrow from chemotherapy.
  5. Sickle cell anemia, an inherited blood disorder that causes the development of abnormal red blood cells.
  6. Congenital neutropenia, an inherited condition that results in recurring infections.

Risks

Risks commonly associated with a bone marrow transplant are:

  1. Nausea
  2. Pain
  3. Chills
  4. Fever
  5. A drop in blood pressure
  6. Shortness of breath
  7. Headache
    These conditions are usually short-lived, but your risk of getting them depends on:
  1. Age
  2. Type of marrow transplant
  3. Overall health
  4. The disease you are receiving treatment for

    Some serious, but rare, complications include:

  1. Cataracts
  2. Organ damage
  3. Graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD)
  4. Anemia
  5. Infections
  6. Mucositis
  7. Bleeding in the brain, lungs, and other parts of the body
  8. Graft failure
  9. Early menopause
  10. Nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting

Preparation

  • A bone marrow transplant is preceded by significant preparation.
  • You will need to undergo tests to see what type of transplant you need, with autologous being done with your stem cells and allogeneic using cells from a donor.
  • You have to ask a lot of questions from your doctor and make sure you are aware of all the risks before going ahead with it.

After the Procedure

  • The success of the procedure is highly dependent on how closely the patient and donor’s cells match.
  • The first sign of success is rising white blood cell count, which may take 28 days to appear.
  • Overall recovery can take up to 3 months during which a patient will be constantly monitored to make sure they do not reject the donor’s cells.