Treatment For Thalassemia by Bone Marrow Transplant

The Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) Service is a medical treatment that dedicated to providing exceptional patient care and novel treatment options for patients with malignant and benign diseases of the blood-building system who require an autologous or allogeneic transplant. The BMT are common procedures for treatment of Thalassemia. A bone marrow transplant is a procedure to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells.

Bone marrow is found inside the bones and is the origination of stem cells that create red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Stem cells are immature cells in the bone marrow that give rise to all of your blood cells. There are two types of Bone Marrow Transplants; Autologous bone marrow transplant and Allogenic bone marrow transplant.

In Autologous bone marrow transplant procedure is a type of transplant that uses the patient's bone marrow (him self) to replace damaged or destroyed of bone marrow. Allogeneic bone marrow transplant, "Allo" means "other." So on this procedure the doctor will do the BMT from other person whose tissue has the same genetic type as the person needing the transplant (recipient).

Treatment For Thalassemia by Bone Marrow Transplant need to extra attention, there are some stage to be done by medical team before this action that called as transplant procedure ;

1. A physical examination to assess your general level of health
2. Obtaining the stem cells to be used in the transplant (known as harvesting)
3. Preparing your body for the transplant (known as conditioning)
4. Transplanting the stem cells
5. The recovery period during which you will be monitored for any complications or side effects
6. Before the transplant, chemotherapy, radiation, or both should be given.

Sources of Bone Marrow Stem Cells :

• Bone marrow harvest: Collecting stem cells by taking them directly out of the bone.
• Bone marrow Apheresis: Collecting stem cells by filtering the blood for peripheral (circulating) blood cells (PBSC).
• Umbilical cord blood: Stem cells are filtered from blood in the umbilical cord after a baby is born.

To remove the marrow, the doctor puts a needle through the skin into the hip bone (pelvis), of course after the patient got a general anaesthetic. Occasionally, the doctor uses the chest bone (sternum) also. Patient Thalassemia who received bone marrow transplant can be an intensive and challenging experience (about 40-45 days stay in hospital), It take up to a year to fully recover from the procedure. The success of a transplant depends on the type and stage of the disease and your age and general health.