Understanding Bone Marrow cancer and Blood stem cell transplant as a curative option
Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside some of the bones, such as hip and thigh bones. It contains stem cells which can develop into the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body, the white blood cells that fight infections, and the platelets that help with blood clotting, which are necessary for survival.
Due to various reasons known and some currently being researched, the stem cells in the bone marrow are either damaged, turn unhealthy or grow abnormally, which is called Bone marrow Cancer. Several fatal blood diseases including blood cancer and blood disorders can be cured by transfusing Blood Stem Cells derived from a healthy volunteer donor (HLA matched related/unrelated). These healthy cells replace the diseased or depleted blood stem cells in a patient and thereby give the patient a second chance at life.
This Replacement of cells can either come from your own body(Autologous) or from a donor (Allogenic).
Blood Stem Cells can be used to treat more than 100 Blood Diseases and Disorders. A few Examples are
- Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)
- Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)
- Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD)
- Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
- Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
- Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
- Hurler Syndrome
- Krabbe Disease (Globoid-Cell Leukodystrophy)
- Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD)
- Multiple Myeloma
- Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)
- Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL)
- Severe Aplastic Anemia
- Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID)
- Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)
- Thalassemia
- Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS)