Tag Archives: stem cell donation

Understanding Leukemia Marrow Transplant

When we talk about a bone marrow transplant, we are referring to a medical procedure. The procedure is done for replacing damaged bone marrow. The damage could have occurred because of chemotherapy, infection or certain types of diseases including leukemia and other forms of blood cancers. The procedure is about transplanting healthy blood stem cells. The blood stem cells move to the bone marrow where they start producing healthy blood cells and also assist in the growth of new marrow. Bone marrow is important for healthy blood cell production. It is spongy and fatty tissue which is located in the hollow of our bones. It is useful for generating red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and other forms of cells.

What Happens In Leukemia

When a person suffers from leukemia, he or she is suffering from a form of blood cancer. These patients have a situation where the bone marrow does not produce enough healthy blood stem cells. Instead, it starts producing unhealthy stem cells which are of odd shapes, sizes, and other attributes. These stem cells start the process of giving birth to cancerous cells that start overwhelming the healthy cells. This leads to anemia and other related problems. Hence, patients suffering from leukemia need to have health stem cells in their body and this is where the role of bone marrow transplant becomes important.

Why The Need For Bone Marrow Transplant

As mentioned above, a bone marrow transplant is needed when the body is not in a position to produce the required amount of healthy blood stem cells. Unless the damaged blood stem cells are removed and replaced with healthy ones, the patient could slowly be slipping out of control and would most certainly die within a few months or a year at the most. Therefore, whenever a patient has been confirmed to be suffering from leukemia, Bone marrow donor match is considered to be one of the most important options.

The Risks Associated With Bone Marrow Transplant

There is no doubt that BMT or match for bone marrow donation Transplant is a major medical procedure and there are risks involved in it. The patients could exhibit quite a few symptoms and these include nausea, headache, and drop in blood pressure, shortness of breath, pain in the body, fever and unexplained chills during the summer season and a host of other such problems. Therefore these risk factors must be weighed against the benefits and your doctor or specialists are the right person to take a call on this.

There are other factors which also should be taken into accounts such as the age of the patient, his or her overall health, the disease for which the patient is being treated, and the type of transplant that is required. Here again, your doctor or the specialist handling the case is the best person to decide as to whether you are the right candidate for a bone marrow transplant.

The Final Word

In fine, there is no doubt that leukemia, like all other forms of cancer, is a dangerous ailment. However, if a diagnosis is made accurately and at an early stage, it is curable with the help of bone marrow transplant and other methods of treatment.

Contact US:

Gift of Life Marrow Registry

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