Tag: bone marrow transplant

Bone Marrow Transplant- All You Need to Know

Bone marrow is defined as a spongy and soft tissue that is located inside bones. Bone marrows produce and develop maximum blood cells inside the body.

 

What is Bone Marrow Transplant?

 

Bone marrow transplant is performed on patients with severe diseases like cancers, anemia, etc. This transplant process includes few steps, like selecting and taking cells from bone marrow, filtering those cells from intoxications. Then, those cells are returned to the bone marrow of the donor or any other patients. The perception of Bone Marrow Transplant is to deliver healthy bone marrow cells to the patient while treating and killing the abnormal bone marrow cells.

 

Why do people need Bone Marrow Transplant?

 

Bone marrow transplant is performed to cure severe diseases includes varieties of cancers. You should know that when a cancer patient is going through chemotherapy, their bone marrow stem cells can get destroyed permanently due to the high radiation. The need for Bone Marrow Transplant occurs in that situation. Sometimes Bone Marrow Transplant is needed while the bone marrow gets damaged for a disease.

 

  1. i) A Bone Marrow Transplant helps to replace malfunctioned, damaged bone marrow with healthy bone marrow. These bone marrows can get damaged due to diseases like Leukaemia, Sickle cell anemia, etc.
  2. ii) If any patient has a disease like Hurler’s Syndrome, then the chances of Bone Marrow Transplant occur. It helps to restore the damaged bone marrow with the genetically well-functioned bone marrow. It allows the prevention of the excessive damage of the genetic disease process.

iii) Basically, bone marrow gets damaged due to high chemotherapy or radiation doses while treating malignant disease. Then Bone Marrow Transplant is done to replace the normal function of that damaged cells.

  1. iv) Bone Marrow Transplant can also be done to revive the new immune system that will provide safety to the body from Leukemia and other types of cancers.

 

Types of Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT)

 

Different types of Bone Marrow transplants are available to prevent the damage of critical diseases.

  • Allogenic Bone Marrow Transplant: This is a type of Bone Marrow Transplant where the donor donates the same genetic type cells as the patient. Stem cells are collected by the bone marrow harvest method. Stem cells can be taken from genetically matched donors also such as brother and sister.
  • Autologous Bone Marrow Transplant: In this BMT process, stem cells are collected from the body and returned to his body after the treatment. Bone marrow harvest or apheresis method is included in this transplant process.
  • Umbilical Cord blood transplant:In this process, the stem cells are collected from the umbilical cord after the delivery occurs. Then these cells are developed, tested, and restored till they become mature enough for transplantation.

 

Other perspectives

 

Bone Marrow Transplant is pretty effective in curing some diseases like Leukemia, Lymphomas, Immune deficiency disorder, anemia, malignant tumors, etc. But blood cancer bone marrow transplant is not applicable for all patients who are suffering from these diseases. It varies on the type and condition of certain diseases.

Gift of Life Marrow Registry Also Offers Following Services :

Asian Bone Marrow Donor

Bone Marrow Match

How To Do A Bone Marrow Drive

Contact US:

Gift of Life Marrow Registry
Address:  800 Yamato Rd suite 101  Boca Raton, FL
Phone: (800) 962-7769

Difference between Bone Marrow Transplant and Stem Cell Therapy

We often believe that there is a big difference between bone marrow transplant and stem cell therapy. However, if you look at it from close quarters and identify the differences, you can be sure that there are quite a few things similar between the two. In fact the only real distinction is the way in which the stem cells are collected. We need to bear in mind that stem cells are versatile and they have the ability to develop and divide and form into different types of cells. On the one hand hematopoietic stem cells have the capacity to produce red blood cells. These cells are oxygen-rich and deliver this life saving nutrients to various parts of the body. On the other hand, stem cells also have the capacity to produce white blood cells and as we all know, WBC play a big role in keeping our body healthy and ward off infections. Stem cells also produce platelets and these are needed for helping blood to clot and help in wound-healing process.

Where Are They Found

 It would be pertinent to mention that hematopoietic stem cells are available in the bone marrow. This is a spongy material inside the bones. Hematopoietic stem cells move from the marrow and into the bloodstream.  When such movement happens and when they are found in the bloodstream they are referred to as peripheral blood stem cells.

Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy

 We need to understand that both radiation therapy and chemotherapy are extremely critical for treatment of various types of cancers. However, these high dose treatments can severely damaged and weaken the healthy stem cells. In such situations stem cells perhaps can help better in getting the patient back on his or her feet when compared to bone marrow transplant.

What Is The Basic Difference

 As mentioned above, both  and bone marrow transplant are the same in terms of the final objectives and results. Stem cell transplantation or stem cell therapy is the name given to a procedure where the cells are taken from the umbilical cord of the new born baby or also from adults. On the other hand when we talk about bone marrow transplant, healthy stem cells of the donor are transplanted into the bone marrow of patients who are suffering from cancer and other forms of illness. This process is done by injecting the stem cells into the bone marrow of the individuals through the spinal cord. It is a relatively simply process but it might take a few days to complete it.

The Risks And Benefits

There are risks as well as benefits associated with stem cell as well as bone marrow transplant. The biggest risk is rejection. Both these cell transplants are subject to the fear of rejection and when this happens it has to be managed effectively.  In fact umbilical stem cells are prone to more rejection when compared to bone marrow transplants. Further, both these forms of transplants and therapies could also lead to other side effects like infections and even development of new types and forms of cancer. Therefore the risks versus benefits of both the options must be weighed carefully before taking a decision.

Contact US:

Gift of Life Marrow Registry
Address: 800 Yamato Rd suite 101 Boca Raton, FL
Phone: (800) 962-7769