Is Bone Marrow Transplantation dangerous?

BloodCancerCure

All medical procedure comes with their own set of risks and dangers. In some cases, the risks are worth taking and in others, they are not. To make the decision of whether bone marrow transplantation is the perfect choice for you, all the risk factors must be understood before the treatment.

What could go wrong?

For better understanding, we will divide this based on the stage of the procedure.

Stage one - collecting the Stem Cells:

Before collecting the stem cells, the patient is given certain drugs that promote the growth of these cells. This eventually causes mild bone pain.

While harvesting the cells, the patient is put under general anaesthesia. This, if not done by an expert, could lead to side effects and complications. Also, the after-effect of general anaesthesia is not a pleasant one. One could also be allergic to the anaesthesia and they must be checked carefully prior to beginning the procedure.

Stage two- Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy:

This is one of the most painful and uncomfortable stages of the whole treatment. High doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy have serious consequences on the health of the patient. symptoms like nausea, vomiting, weight loss, hair loss etc are common. More serious side effects like infertility could also occur. Patient who is considering bone marrow transplantation must also consider chances of becoming infertile. There is also an increased risk of developing some other form of cancer. The heavy doses of full-body radiation can trigger the formation of cancerous cells. This is another factor that needs to be considered.

Stage three- infusion of harvested Bone Marrow:

The stage after chemotherapy is a critical stage. Here, the patient would have an extremely low immune system. This is because all the cells including the immunologic cells are destroyed in the process. The patient is extremely susceptible to even the mildest infections and even the minor flu could become potentially hazardous.

Until the patient’s immunity is back on track, the patient must be kept in careful isolation to prevent infection. The harvested bone marrow is transplanted.

Stage four- accepting the Bone Marrow Transplantation:

In patients where allogenous bone marrow transplant was done, the harvested bone marrow transplant may not be sufficiently matched. In such cases, the patient’s body might reject the cells causing failure of the transplantation. Also, the new blood cells produced by the patient may mistakenly attack the healthy cells of the patient. This is called graft-versus-host disease. This is a potentially hazardous condition which eventually could be fatal if not detected early. The patient must be given immunosuppressants so that it is not rejected and there are no graft and host cell diseases. These immunosuppressants weaken the body’s natural mechanism of protection which further makes them prone to diseases and infections.

Stage five- observation:

After the entire transplantation is done, the patient must be under observation as they are still prone to infection until the stem cells grow enough to sustain on their own. In some cases, despite all positive conditions, the stem cells may still not survive and it may lead to failure of the bone marrow transplantation. The patient would still have all the complications but no successful treatment.

Despite the negative aspects and the associated risks involved in this procedure, many consider bone marrow transplantation as a procedure that could probably change their life. The most important factor of consideration to assess the danger of the transplant is the probability of success and how suitable the treatment is for that particular type of cancer and that particular patient. one must carefully evaluate and discuss the various treatment options, and the pros and cons of bone marrow transplantation in order to make the most of it.

Also Read: What diseases can be cured with Stem Cell Transplant?

About BloodCancerCure:

BloodCancerCure is world’s first such organization working 24*7 on helping blood cancer patients. BloodCancerCure works for patients across world by providing the lowest cost for bone marrow transplants, chemotherapy, and Bone marrow test. You can contact at +91-8448533753 to talk to our experts at BloodCancerCure for BMT treatment in India.