Contents:
- Medical Video: Bone Marrow Transplant - Mayo Clinic
- What are the risks of transplantation of blood cells and marrow stem?
- Infection
- Graft-versus-host (GVHD) disease
- Graft failure
- Other risks
- Cancer recurred
Medical Video: Bone Marrow Transplant - Mayo Clinic
You will stay in the hospital for several weeks or even months after transplanting your blood and marrow stem cells. Your doctor will make sure that you are healthy and strong enough to go home.
They will make sure:
- Your bone marrow makes enough healthy blood cells
- You don't have severe complications
- You feel good and every mouth injury and / or diarrhea has improved or recovered
- Appetite has increased
- You have no fever or vomiting
For the first few weeks and months after you leave the hospital, you will often check into an outpatient clinic. This allows your doctor to monitor your progress. This visit will occur more often from time to time.
Staff at the clinic will teach you and your caregivers how to treat scars (which will appear for at least 6 months after your transplant), how to monitor and prevent infections, and other ways to treat you. They will also tell you who to contact and what to do in the event of an emergency.
Recovery from stem cell transplants can be slow. It takes 6 to 12 months to restore normal blood cell levels and immune function. During this time, it's important for you to take steps to reduce the risk of infection, get plenty of rest, and follow your doctor's instructions about medication and examinations.
What are the risks of transplantation of blood cells and marrow stem?
The main risks of transplantation of blood cells and parent marrow are infection, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and graft failure.
Infection
You can easily get an infection after a transplant because the immune system is weak. The risk of infection can be reduced because your immune system is recovering.
You can take steps to prevent infection, such as:
- Bathe every day
- Carefully clean the teeth and gums
- Clean the area where your center line enters your body
- Avoid foods that may have harmful bacteria, such as raw fruits and vegetables
Transplant recipients are sometimes given vaccines to prevent viruses and infections, such as flu and pneumonia. If you experience an infection, the doctor will prescribe medication to treat it.
Graft-versus-host (GVHD) disease
GVHD is a common complication for people who get stem cell donors. In GVHD, new stem cells attack your body.
Acute GVHD occurs in 90 to 100 days of transplantation. Chronic GVHD starts more than 90 to 100 days after transplantation or exceeds 90 days after transplantation.
GVHD can be mild or life threatening. Signs and symptoms include:
- A rash that starts in the palm of your hand and the soles of your feet and spreads to the center of your body. Over time, the rash can cover your entire body. The skin can blister or peel if the rash is very bad.
- Nausea (feeling abdominal pain), vomiting, loss of appetite, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. The doctor determines how bad GVHD is based on the severity of diarrhea.
- Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes) and abdominal pain. These symptoms indicate liver damage.
Doctors prescribe medicines to treat GVHD. Acute GVHD is treated with glucocorticoids, such as methyl prednisone, prednisone combined with cyclosporine, antithymocyte globulin, or monoclonal antibodies.
Chronic GVHD is treated with ordinary steroids such as cyclosporine and prednisone in alternating days.
Parents, people who have had acute GVHD before, and people who receive stem cells from matching or unrelated donors are at increased risk for GVHD.
Your doctor can reduce your chances of experiencing GVHD by:
- Good matching of stem cells with your donor through typing HLA networks
- Use drugs to suppress your immune system.
- Eliminate several types of T cells from donor cells. In GVHD, T cells can attack your body.
- Using cord blood as a source of donor cells.
Graft failure
Graft failure occurs when your immune system rejects new stem cells. This can also happen if the stem cells are not used well enough, new stem cells are damaged during storage, or your bone marrow is damaged after transplantation.
Graft failure is more likely to occur in people receiving less preparation for their transplant. People who get stem cells from unsuitable donors are also more likely to experience graft failure.
Other risks
The chemotherapy and / or radiation you receive during transplant preparation can cause complications. Sometimes this complication occurs long after the transplant.
Complications can include infertility, cataracts, new cancers, and damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs, or heart.
Cancer recurred
In some people who get stem cell transplants to treat cancer (such as leukemia), the cancer eventually recurs. This occurs more often in people who use their own stem cells for transplants (autologous transplants) than people who get stem cells from donors (allogeneic transplants).
This difference occurs because stem cells received from other people recognize new cancer cells as foreign cells and destroy them. This is called the graft-versus-tumor effect. One's own stem cells do not recognize new cancer cells as foreign cells. This allows cancer cells to grow and multiply.
Doctors use immunotherapy to help prevent or treat cancer recurrence in people who already have stem cell transplants. This treatment stimulates the immune system to attack cancer cells.
