Bone Marrow Transplantation

Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside some of your bones, such as your hip and thigh bones. It contains immature cells, called stem cells. The stem cells can develop into the red blood cells that carry oxygen through your body, the white blood cells that fight infections, and the platelets help with blood clotting.

If there is a problem with your bone marrow, a transplant can give you healthy new marrow. You could need a transplant because of a disease, such as bone marrow diseases or cancers like leukemia or lymphoma. Or you might need one if a strong cancer treatment kills your healthy blood cells.

People with cancer sometimes donate bone marrow before treatment to be transplanted later. But often the new marrow comes from a donor, either a close family member or someone unrelated.

Bone Marrow Transplant on Wikipedia

'''Bone marrow transplantation''' (BMT) is a hematology medical procedure that involves stem cell Organ transplant. The common feature of recipients is a need for blood stem cells. It is a dangerous procedure, associated with a mortality over 10%, and can be complicated by infection and graft-versus-host disease.

Principles

Engraftment

Most recipients of BMTs are leukemia patients or others who have been exposed to high doses of chemotherapy or total body irradiation resulting in destruction of their bone marrow stem cells. Other patients who receive bone marrow transplants include pediatric cases where the patient has an inborn defect such as severe combined immunodeficiency or neutropenia and was born with either no blood stem cells or defective stem cells. Other conditions that bone marrow transplants are considered for include thalassemia major, sickle cell disease, aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. The transplanted cells are bone marrow-derived blood stem cells. These cells can be obtained from a bone marrow donation, peripheral blood donation or donation of the blood from an umbilical cord and placenta after a baby is born.

Donation

In a bone marrow donation, bone marrow is surgically removed from a large bone of the donor, typically the sternum or the hip, by a large needle that reaches the center of the bone. The technique is referred as a bone marrow harvest and involves literally 100s of insertions of the needle. Peripheral blood cells are collected through a process known as apheresis. The donor's blood is withdrawn through a sterile needle in one arm and passed through a machine that separates the blood-forming cells. The rest of the blood is returned to the donor. Usually, peripheral stem cell yield is stimulated with daily subcutaneous Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor. This ... [ Read More ]

External Resources

UCLA Umbilical Cord Blood Bank - The emphasis here is to support bone marrow transplants by banking umbilical cord blood from a variety of ethnic groups. In Los Angeles, California.

Cord Blood Transplant Resources - News, journal articles, organizations, private storage banks, and bone marrow transplant centers.

Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplants for Childhood Cancer Resources - Stories and annotated links related to marrow and stem cell transplants and children's cancer.

Antibodies and Therapy - Article on the history of vaccination, the role of the humoral response in organ and bone marrow transplantation, leukaemia and lymphoma, and rheumatoid disease. Includes links to laboratories at the Therapeutic Antibody Centre, Oxford, UK.

Nursing Staff of Duke University Medical Center's Adult Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant Program - Provides information about their transplantation procedures for patients and their families. Includes contacts for recruitment in Durham, North Carolina.

GrannyBarb and Art's Leukemia Links and Survivors Stories - General information including links to research sites, bone marrow transplant resources, cancer centers and survivors' stories.

Shiloh's Bone Marrow Transplant - Chronicles the personal experiences of an Australian teenager beginning the day after the procedure.

Lori's Page: Cancer in my Family - What I went through when giving my sister stem cells, bone marrow transplant. And some family stories.

CLL Information Network - General information about chronic lymphocytic leukemia includes chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, links and a personal story.

Dedicated to Sherri - Memorial to one who lost her struggle with leukemia and bone marrow transplant.

Related Pages on HealthTales.com:

Bone Marrow Diseases
Bone Cancer
Bone Diseases
Bone Grafts
Paget's Disease of Bone
Heart Transplantation
Kidney Transplantation
Liver Transplantation
Lung Transplantation
Organ Transplantation