Contents:
- Medical Video: Spinal Cord Injury patient demonstrates progress after treatment at Stem Cell Institute Panama
- What is the process of bone marrow transplant like?
- Why is a spinal cord transplant done?
- Then, are there any side effects to the recipient's transplant?
- What about the side effects of transplantation on the donor?
Medical Video: Spinal Cord Injury patient demonstrates progress after treatment at Stem Cell Institute Panama
For some people, bone marrow transplants still sound strange. Understandably this transplant is not as popular as a kidney or heart transplant. But for patients with blood cancer or leukemia, bone marrow grafts are a life expectancy for them. Then what is the spinal cord transplant procedure like? Find out in this article.
What is the process of bone marrow transplant like?
Bone marrow is a soft material found in bones that contains immature cells called hematopoietic stem cells. These immature cells will then develop into three types of blood cells - white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
Bone marrow transplantation is a surgical procedure to replace bone marrow that is damaged or destroyed by disease with healthy spinal cord stem cells. The existence of the spinal cord is very important to support the process of delivering messages between the brain and spinal cord so that it can be interwoven well.
The process of taking bone marrow samples from healthy donors is referred to as 'harvesting'. In this process, the needle is inserted through the donor skin into the bone to extract the bone marrow. The whole process takes about one hour and the donor is usually given anesthesia.
After intensive chemotherapy or radiation therapy, the patient is given infusion of the spinal cord from the donor via an intravenous line. This procedure is followed by the 'engraftment' process, where new stem cells find their way to the spinal cord and re-produce blood cells.
Why is a spinal cord transplant done?
This transplant is done to replace the damaged bone marrow condition and is no longer able to produce healthy blood cells. Transplants are also commonly used to replace blood cells that are damaged or destroyed by intensive cancer treatment. Spinal cord transplantation is commonly used to treat the following conditions:
- Aplastic anemia (spinal cord failure)
- Leukemia (blood cancer)
- Lymphoma (cancer that affects white blood cells)
- Myeloma (cancer that affects cells called plasma cells)
Certain blood condition disorders, immune system disorders and metabolic disorders such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, severe combined immunodeficiency SCID disease or diseases that make people with this disease have no immune system, and hurler syndrome is a condition that desperately needs marrow transplant bone.
This transplant will usually be done if other treatments do not help. The potential benefits of transplantation are greater than the risks that will be experienced due to the disease conditions mentioned.
Then, are there any side effects to the recipient's transplant?
Spinal cord transplantation is, after all, a complicated procedure that is not without risk. As reported by National Health Serviceit is important for you to be aware of the risks. Possible problems that can occur during or after the transplant process include the following:
- Graft versus host disease (GvHD). It is common in allogeneic transplants where patients receive stem cells from family members.
- Blood cells are reduced. This can cause anemia, excessive bleeding or bruising, and an increased risk of infection.
- Side effects of chemotherapy. Usually it is easy to get sick, fatigue, hair loss, and infertility or have difficulty having children.
What about the side effects of transplantation on the donor?
Only a small amount of bone marrow is taken from the donor so that it doesn't really cause a lot of harm. The area around the location where the bone marrow is taken may feel stiff for several days.
Donated bone marrow will be replaced by the body in a few days. However, recovery time will vary for each individual. Some people can return to their daily routine within a week, some may need 3-4 weeks before everything returns to normal.
Although there are no severe side effects for donors, complications associated with the use of anesthesia may also need to be considered.
