A bone marrow transplant is a medical treatment that involves the replacement of bone marrow with healthy cells. The replacement is done either with the cells of one’s own body or from a donor’s body. Bone marrow transplant is also called stem cell transplant or hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Bone marrow transplant becomes necessary for cancer patients. Be Well Hospital specializes in oncology, gynecology, infertility, orthopedics, cardiology, and more. It possesses a group of hospitals. It believes in getting high ended results to provide quality care to all. The hospital specializes in all cases of transplantation. It helps people to get rid of their complex diseases.

Bone marrow transplant involves the transplantation of the cells found in the bone marrow. It is given to the other person after filtering the cells. The goal is to transfuse the healthy cells of bone marrow to kill abnormal cells and remove the unhealthy ones. Bone marrow transplant is done successfully in India. It is used to treat diseases like aplastic anemia, immune deficiency, leukemias, lymphomas, and other kinds of solid tumor cancers.

Why Is a Bone Marrow Transplant Done?

Bone marrow transplantation is done for hematopoietic stem cells. Once transferred to the donor’s body, they grow to become:

• Red blood cells which further help to carry oxygen
• White blood cells help to further form the immune system
• Platelets further help to form clots while bleeding

A bone marrow transplant may:

• Replace the stem cells which got destroyed by the cancerous cells or while doing chemotherapy for cancer treatment
• Replace diseased marrow that helps to make own cells of the body
• Add donor cells and help to increase the own cells and kill the cancer cells

Types of Bone Marrow Transplants

There are two main types of bone marrow transplants:

• Autologous: in this type of treatment, your doctor may collect stem cells from your bone marrow or blood to treat cancer. After performing this treatment, the stem cells of your bloodstream start combining with the cells of bone marrow. The cells thereafter travel to bone marrow and multiply helping healthy cells to grow again.
• Allogeneic: during cancer treatment, bone marrow helps to treat the body cells and kill cancerous cells. The bone marrow is transferred to the recipient only when bone marrow matches with the donor’s bone marrow. This may further include close relatives, family members like parents, siblings, or someone from the national donor list. If the donor matches with the identical sibling, it is called a syngeneic transplant. Doctors may use stem cells from the blood of a newborn’s umbilical cord.

The importance of matching patients and donors

• It is important to note that donor and recipient must match closely in regards to the tissues. The match of the tissues of bone marrow will avoid graft rejection. Graft rejection happens when the recipient’s bone marrow recognizes the donor’s cells as foreign cells or tries to attack or destroy them. In such a condition, the donor’s cells are considered bacteria or viruses which the recipient’s immune system tries to defend against.
• Graft rejection leads to graft failure. Graft rejection happens in case the recipient’s bone marrow doesn’t match with the donor’s bone marrow.
• A more common problem is when the donor’s bone marrow cells start making their immune cells which occur in reaction to foreign cells of the recipient. In this case, the donor’s cells attack the home of the recipient. This is called graft-versus-host disease. 
• The new or grafted cells attack the body of the recipient in whose body more marrow is transferred. This is another reason that there should be the closest match of both the recipient and donor.

How to know whether the transplant became a success or not?

There are two ways to know whether the transplant worked or not

• Your blood counts are back to safe levels

The measure of blood count along with red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, etc should increase. On the very first day of the transplant, the transplant may seem to be very low. This will further affect the immune system and will put the body at risk of getting attacked by viruses. There may occur chances of bleeding, infection, tiredness, and other extreme health issues. Your doctor may require you to give you blood and platelets transfusion. You will be provided with antibiotics to prevent infections. The time when your new stem cells will start multiplying, they will start making new blood cells. This will increase your blood cell count. This is one of the ways to get success with transplantation.

• You will feel that your cancer is getting controlled

Curing cancer is one of the major goals of a bone marrow transplant. A cure is possible for certain cases of cancer like leukemia and lymphoma. Bone marrow thus helps to remove the cancer cells and induce the new cells that match perfectly with the recipient.

Conclusion

If any serious condition persists, consult your doctor. Understand the regular signs of transplant. Keep a watch on the signs and symptoms of cancer or bone marrow transplantation. Make a thorough list of the complications that can take place due to bone marrow transplantation. Try to keep a track of your health and consult your doctor for every step. These steps become important when you are recovering from any extreme or complex disease.

Be Well Hospital is one of the promising hospitals that has been established for years. It strives to provide quality services to all its patients. It possesses classic and prestigious facilities so that all patients get equal services at the time of emergency. The hospital meets the quality standards and has built a trained and knowledgeable staff for itself. The Be Well Hospital understands the concept of the right medication at the right time so that all the barriers can be removed at the time of actual treatment.