Bone marrow transplant is the procedure that involves replacement of the damaged stem cells due to infection, disease or chemotherapy with the healthy stem cells from a donor or from the patient’s own body. It is the best option for patients whose bone marrow is not healthy enough to perform its various functions properly.
Let’s first understand little bit about bone marrow and its functioning before moving to bone marrow transplant.
Bone marrow is the spongy, soft and fatty tissue inside the bones that is responsible for making and storing of blood cells including RBCs, WBCs and platelets. These components of blood have life-maintaining functions and are important to avoid any sort of infections, bleeding disorders, or anemia.
A bone marrow transplant is required in patients whose bone marrow is damaged and could not make normal blood cells like RBC, WBC and platelet. RBCs are important as they carry oxygen to the tissues in the body. WBCs are responsible to fight against any infection while platelets are important for blood clotting. Inability of the bone marrow to form normal blood cells can lead to various life-threatening disorders. In such conditions, it becomes necessary to transplant the bone marrow so that healthy cells can be formed for proper body functioning.
Bone marrow transplant is required if the bone marrow becomes diseased and could not perform its function of making blood cells. This can occur due to various reasons like cancer or cancer treatment, chronic infection or disorders. There are a variety of bone marrow disorders that may require a bone marrow transplant, like:
Bone marrow transplant is done by a team of expert surgeons and specialist doctors. The stem cells from transplant can come from the patient itself or from the donor who is a close match of the patient.
Once the patient decides to undergo bone marrow transplant, various tests are done before transplant to ensure the safety of the procedure and find out the eligibility of the patient for the transplant. These tests are also required to find out the type of bone marrow transplant the patient can undergo. Some of the major tests done are:
The bone marrow transplant is a procedure that is like blood transfusion. It may be required to give chemotherapy, radiotherapy or both before the transplant to kill any remaining bone marrow cells, so that new cells can grow easily.
Depending upon the donor, the bone marrow transplant is of following three types:
These tests are required to match a donor to the recipient and transplant is planned only after confirming the match. Donor stem cells can be collected in the following two ways:
A successful bone marrow transplant is defined by increase in the blood count levels or control of disease/cancer. In most of the cases, transplant can increase the survival of the patient. It can partially or in some cases completely cure the illness of the patient. Within one year after transplant, patient can resume all the major daily activities and feels far better than before.
A successful bone marrow transplant is defined by increase in the blood count levels or control of disease/cancer. In most of the cases, transplant can increase the survival of the patient. It can partially or in some cases completely cure the illness of the patient. Within one year after transplant, patient can resume all the major daily activities and feels far better than before.
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