A bone marrow transplant (BMT) is a specialised medical procedure for people with certain cancers or other illnesses. Bone marrow transplantation is a procedure in which the donor’s stem cells are removed from the bone marrow, purified, and either given to another person or returned to the donor (patient). After treating the patient’s sick bone marrow to destroy the aberrant cells, BMT aims to transfuse healthy bone marrow cells into the recipient.
Since 1968, bone marrow transplantation has successfully treated solid tumour cancers, leukaemia, lymphoma, plastic anaemia, and immunodeficiency disorders.
Many High Technologies Hospitals are available for Bone Marrow Transplant in India
Characteristics
- Renewing: capable of procreation in identical cells.
- One or more subsets of mature cells may be produced through differentiation.
- When transplanting bone marrow, stem cells are required.
What conditions can a bone marrow transplant treat?
Bone marrow transplantation is frequently used to treat some of the most prevalent illnesses, including:
- Leukaemia
- Aplastic anaemia with grave lymphoma
- Several myelomas
- Syndromes of immunodeficiency
- Certain solid tumour malignancies (in rare cases)
However, because every patient with a disease reacts differently to treatment, a bone marrow transplant is suitable for each sufferer of one of these illnesses.
Life expectancy following a bone marrow transplant and success rate
The life expectancy of people receiving bone marrow transplants is increasing along with medical advancements. Numerous variables, including the underlying illness, the source of the cells, and the patient’s general health status, affect the success rates. Patients now have a longer average lifespan than ten years ago.
Success rate of Bone Marrow Transplant in India
- More than 90% of the transplants were autologous.
Duration of life
- 70–80% longer life expectancy with a matched sibling donor after a year.
- 50–60% longer life expectancy with a matched unrelated donor for a year.
Which bone marrow transplant procedures are available?
- Depending on the donor, there are various forms of bone marrow transplants. Listed below are some of the TMO varieties:
- In an autologous transplant, the recipient serves as the donor. Aphaeresis, a procedure that collects stem cells from peripheral blood, is used to take stem cells from the patient, freeze them, and then return them to the next intense therapy. Sometimes, the word “salvage” is used in place of “transplant.”
- The patient and the donor have similar genetic make-up. A genetically compatible donor, typically a brother or sister, provides stem cells through bone marrow harvesting or aphaeresis. Similarly, a donor for an allergenic bone marrow transplant can be either the father or the mother if their genetic compatibility is the same as the recipient. At least 50% of recipients have an exact haploid match. These transplantations are uncommon.
Unknown or Matched Unrelated Donor Transplant
- Unrelated donors provide bone marrow or stem cells that are genetically matched. National bone marrow registries contain information about undisclosed donors.
- Stem cells are extracted from the umbilical cord as soon as the baby is delivered for umbilical cord blood transplants. Compared to stem cells extracted from the bone marrow of another child or adult, these stem cells multiply into mature, functioning blood cells more quickly and effectively. Before being prepared for transplant, these cells are checked, separated, numbered, and frozen.
In what ways are donors and recipients matched?
Typing the human leukocyte antigen tissue is the process of matching. These individual white blood cells’ surface antigens determine a person’s immune system’s genetic make-up. At least 100 different human leukocyte antigens exist. It is known that a few key antigens can evaluate the compatibility between a donor and a receiver. The impact of the other factors, which are regarded as “small,” on a transplant’s success is less clear.
Medical professionals are still researching all antigens’ roles in bone marrow transplantation. The success of the given marrow graft depends on how many antigens match. This is known as stem cell engraftment when donor cells reach the bone marrow and produce new blood cells.
One chromosome contains most genes that “code” the human immune system. Humans have only have two chromosomes, so siblings have a 25% chance of having the same type of chromosome, which would make them “completely matched” for transplant of each kind inherited from each of our parents.
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