Bone marrow transplant (BMT) is a special therapy for patients with certain cancers or other diseases. A bone marrow transplant involves taking cells that are normally found in the bone marrow (stem cells), filtering those cells, and giving them back either to the donor (patient) or to another person. The goal of BMT is to transfuse healthy bone marrow cells into a person after his or her own unhealthy bone marrow has been treated to kill the abnormal cells. Bone marrow transplant has been used successfully to treat diseases such as leukemias, lymphomas, aplastic anemia, immune deficiency disorders, and some solid tumor cancers since 1968.
Why is it needed?
The goal of a bone marrow transplant is to cure many diseases and types of cancer. When the doses of chemotherapy or radiation needed to cure a cancer are so high that a person’s bone marrow stem cells will be permanently damaged or destroyed by the treatment, a bone marrow transplant may be needed. Bone marrow transplants may also be needed if the bone marrow has been destroyed by a disease.
A bone marrow transplant can be used to:
Replace diseased, nonfunctioning bone marrow with healthy functioning bone marrow (for conditions such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, and sickle cell anemia).
Regenerate a new immune system that will fight existing or residual leukemia or other cancers not killed by the chemotherapy or radiation used in the transplant.
Replace the bone marrow and restore its normal function after high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation are given to treat a malignancy. This process is often called rescue (for diseases such as lymphoma and neuroblastoma).
Replace bone marrow with genetically healthy functioning bone marrow to prevent further damage from a genetic disease process (such as Hurler’s syndrome and adrenoleukodystrophy).
Where do the healthy cells come from?
In all there are three major sources for isolating or extracting adult stem cells from a body. These include:
From the bone marrow: This process better known as bone marrow harvest is undertaken in an operating room under general anesthesia. The bone marrow is extracted from the back part of the pelvic bone using a large needle inserted through it & into the thick liquid marrow.
From the peripheral blood: By injecting the donor with a growth-factor drug in preparatory for several days in advance, the bone marrow is stimulated to produce and extricate stem cells into mainstream blood. From where cells are taken out through a technique called Apheresis.
From the cord blood: Obtained from the umbilical cord of a newborn, these are then frozen after being mixed with a preservative and put inside a sterile container, for future use.
