Leukemia Marrow Transplant – Facts You Need to Know

Leukemia results due to increased WBC-white blood cells crowding up the platelets and red blood cells-RBCs. It’s a blood cancer that results in WBCs which do not work right. Leukemia is identified by fatigue, bruising, chills, severe infections, headaches, joint pain, seizures, loss of weight, breath shortage, night sweats, and inflamed lymph nodes. Leukemia is treated in different ways. One of the methods is bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant for treating leukemia. This is called a Leukemia marrow transplant.

What is stem cell transplantation?

Stem cell transplantation involves high radiation or chemotherapy doses to treat destroy leukemia cells within the normal bone marrow. Post this process, the stem cells are transplanted through an intravenous-IV infusion. These infused stem cells get to the bone marrow and start generating new blood cells. These stem cells can be obtained from a potential compatible donor-allogenic or patient-autologous. These cells are obtained from the umbilical cord blood or bone marrow.

How does Leukamia occur?

The 3 blood cell types-RBCs which carry oxygen, WBCs that combat infection, and platelets that assist in a blood clot. Your bone marrow makes many new blood cells with the majority of them being RBCs. In leukemia, WBCs are generated in more numbers than required. The cells cannot combat infection as WBCs. They begin to impact the way your organs operate. With time, there are no sufficient RBCs for sufficient oxygen supply, WBCs to combat infection, and sufficient platelets for the blood to clot.

What does stem cell transplant do?

A stem cell transplant is a process where the harmful leukemia cells are present in your bone marrow. New stem cells are generated from a donor or body which grow into healthy and new blood cells.

Can a bone marrow transplant cure leukemia?

Bone-marrow transplantation is efficient in eliminating leukemia. This is because of the radiation and high drug doses that are administered before transplantation. Leukemia can be treated with a functioning and healthy bone marrow replacement. This way you regenerate an immune system that combats residual or existing leukemia not wiped out with radiation or chemotherapy with a transplant.

The Procedure

Stem cells generated from the patient-Auto transplant

Stem cells collection- A medication is injected to enhance your stem cells. The stem cells are collected from your chest or arm vein. They are stored as required.

Treatment before transplant- It takes 5-10 days. A high chemotherapy dose with some getting radiation therapy is a pre-treatment plan.

Acquiring stem cells- It’s around 30 mins process for every dose of infusion of stem cells. The stem cells are infused using a catheter into your bloodstream. You may need over one infusion.

Recovery-This phase is monitoring your recovery of cells and their growth. You may need antibiotics to minimize infection. Any side effects are treated and dealt with.

Stem cells from a donor-Allo transplant

Donor identification-A potential donor is identified for your HLA identical type through a blood test. They could be friends, family, or from a stem cell register.

The rest of the procedure is the same with the only difference, the stem cells are collected from the donor and self.

Conclusion

Leukemia is a bone cancer that generates more WBCs than usual crowding the RBCs.  A leukemia marrow transplant infuses healthy stem cells obtained from bone marrow to make the system healthy.

Gift of Life Marrow Registry Also Offers Following Services :

Stem Cell Donation

Bone Marrow Match Registry

Bone Marrow Registry Search

Bone Marrow Drive

Contact US:

Gift of Life Marrow Registry

Address:  800 Yamato Rd suite 101 Boca Raton, FL
Phone: (800) 962-7769

Leukemia Marrow Transplant-How it is Done?

Blood plays a very crucial role in our body. So it should be perfectly configured in our body. Our blood is consist of three types of cells i.e. Red blood cells that carry oxygen to our entire body, platelets that helps in clotting the blood and last but not the least white blood cells that prevent our body from infection. All the three cells has to be in a definite proportion for a healthy body. Here we will discuss about the disorder in our body due to the unwanted distribution of white blood cells named Leukemia. Also we will discuss the basic process for the cure of this disease.

What is Leukemia and Why How Does it Happen?

Before understanding the cure, you should know some basic things about this process. Leukemia is a kind of blood cancer that is caused by the rise in white blood cell in your body. The bone marrow of your body that makes millions of blood cells every day in which most of them are red blood cells, will start to produce extra white blood cells.

  • These excess white blood cells disturbs the whole configuration of blood cells.
  • In a result the red blood cells and platelets get crowded and unable to perform their functions normally.
  • Extra white blood cells than requirement of body will not be able to prevent your body from infections.

Leukemia Marrow Transplant

There are many options for the treatment of this cancer depending upon the type of leukemia. This thing will be confirmed by the several diagnosis that your doctor will recommend you. Cell transplant is the one of the treatment for this disease. Also known as Stem cell transplant or bone marrow Transplant.

How it is done?

 As discussed earlier, the bone marrow is that part which produces thousands of blood cells every day. In this leukemia marrow transplant or stem cells will be replaced with the new one. The process will be done in these simple steps.

  1. First off all heavy chemotherapy will be done, that involves removal of cancer cells from bone marrow. In this process certain type of drug will be injected in the effected body to kill the cancer cells.
  2. After the chemotherapy, the effect body will be infused with new stem cells. These stem cells can be either allogeneic or autologous, that means can be taken from a healthy donor or can be taken from the patient’s body itself. It totally depends on the type and stage of Leukemia disease.

After the stem cells transplant in bone marrow, it will start to grow new blood cells in required proportion.

Although according to some surveys, stem cell transplant is the most commonly used method for the cure of this blood cancer, but the method and type of treatment depends on the maturity of cancer. It also depends on the type of causing blood cells so it is highly recommended that you should go through the symptoms and consult to a specialist. Because prevention is always better than cure.

Contact US:

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