Top 7 Things Every Bone Marrow Transplant Patient Should Know

The bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside bones that produces blood cells. A bone marrow transplant is a surgical procedure in which someone receives blood-forming stem cells from a donor to treat blood or immune system diseases. Bone marrow transplants are an important treatment for patients with certain types of blood and immune system diseases. However, it’s not always an ideal treatment option for every patient. Here are the top things you should know about a bone marrow transplant.

What is a bone marrow transplant?

Bone marrow transplants are procedures in which someone receives stem cells from a donor. The stem cells are also called “hematopoietic” stem cells. The stem cells travel to the bone marrow, where they make new blood cells, including white blood cells that help the body fight infections. Successful bone marrow transplantation is the only known cure for some immune system diseases, such as leukodysplastic syndrome, a condition that affects the bone marrow. The transplantation of peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) has become a very common procedure in certain types of hematological disorders. PBSCs can cause normal blood cells to make more of their own proteins and increase the ability of the recipient to fight infections. For bone marrow transplants, the stem cells are harvested from a donor. A transplant recipient doesn’t need to be related to the donor and can be any age. A bone marrow transplant is usually done as an outpatient procedure. The transplant team puts the recipient under general anesthesia so the patient is unconscious during the transplant surgery. The transplant team takes a sample of frozen marrow from the donor and removes some stem cells. The stem cells are then injected into the recipient’s bloodstream.

Bone marrow donors and transplant matches

Bone marrow donors are people who donate stem cells to someone else. Bone marrow donors can be family members of the transplant recipient, a friend, or someone who is unrelated to the recipient. No matter who donates the stem cells, the matching between donor and recipient is crucial for the successful transplant of the stem cells. The matching is based on blood type and certain markers in the recipient’s cells. The markers in the recipient’s cells can help find a matching donor. The matching process uses a computer program. If the program finds a donor and recipient who are a perfect match, the transplant is done. But if the program doesn’t find a donor and recipient who are a perfect match, a new search is done. The goal is to find a perfect match.

Types of stem cell donor criteria

Before a donor can help with a bone marrow transplant specialist in Delhi, the patient’s doctors must rule out certain donors. First, the doctors make sure that the donor doesn’t have any of the same diseases as the patient. This is called an exclusion. The doctors also check for conditions that may disqualify the donor, such as a history of drug use. The next step is to check the donor’s blood type and the donor and recipient’s markers. The doctors look for markers in the recipient’s cells that are the same as the markers in the donor. This ensures that the donor’s and recipient’s cells are compatible with the transplant. If the doctors don’t find any donors who are a perfect match for the recipient, then they ask if the recipient would like to try to find a donor on their own. This is called an autologous search or self-allogeneic search. Depending on the patient’s condition and health, the doctors may recommend an autologous search. This is done in certain cases such as cancer patients.

Conclusion

Bone marrow transplantation is a surgical procedure used to treat certain blood and immune system diseases. Successful bone marrow transplantation is the only known cure for some immune system diseases, such as leukodysplastic syndrome, a condition that affects the bone marrow. The stem cells collected from a donor are injected into the recipient’s bloodstream to help make new blood cells. The transplant may work for people with hematological disorders that affect the blood and immune systems, such as leukemia, lymphoma, and sickle cell disease. The main types of bone marrow transplants are autologous and allogeneic. The autologous bone marrow transplant takes the healthy bone marrow from the patient and transplants it into the patient’s bone marrow. During an autologous transplant, the patient’s bone marrow is removed, the stem cells are collected, and the bone marrow is put back into the patient’s bone. With an allogeneic transplant, the bone marrow is from a donor, and the stem cells are collected and transferred to the recipient.