Cancer Treatment - Bone Marrow Transplantation

What is a bone marrow transplantation?

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is a special therapy for patients with cancer or other diseases which affect the bone marrow. 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 patient or to another person. The goal of BMT is to transfuse healthy bone marrow cells into a person after their own unhealthy bone marrow has been eliminated.

Bone marrow transplantation has been used successfully to treat diseases such as leukemias, lymphomas, aplastic anemia, immune deficiency disorders, and some solid tumor cancers since 1968.

What is bone marrow?

Bone marrow is the soft, spongy tissue found inside bones. It is the medium for development and storage of about 95 percent of the body's blood cells.

The blood cells that produce other blood cells are called stem cells. The most primitive of the stem cells is called the pluripotent stem cell, which is different than other blood cells with regards to the following properties:

• Renewal - it is able to reproduce another cell identical to itself.
• Differentiation - it is able to generate one or more subsets of more mature cells.

It is the stem cells that are needed in bone marrow transplantation.

Why is a bone marrow transplant needed?

The goal of a bone marrow transplant is to cure many diseases and types of cancer. When a person's bone marrow has been damaged or destroyed due to a disease or intense treatments of radiation or chemotherapy for cancer, a marrow transplant may be needed.

A bone marrow transplant can be used to:

• Replace diseased, non-functioning bone marrow with healthy functioning bone marrow (for conditions such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, and sickle cell anemia).
• Replace the bone marrow and restore its normal function after high doses of chemotherapy 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).

The risks and benefits must be weighed in a thorough discussion with your physician and physicians that specialize in bone marrow transplants prior to procedure.

What are some diseases that may benefit from bone marrow transplantation?

The following diseases are the ones that most commonly benefit from bone marrow transplantation:

• Leukemias
• Severe Aplastic Anemia
• Lymphomas
• Multiple Myeloma
• Immune Deficiency Disorders
• Solid-tumor cancers, such as breast or ovarian

However, patients experience diseases differently, and bone marrow transplantation may not be appropriate for everyone who suffers from these diseases.