Stem Cell Transplant – Procedure and Purpose
Are you suffering from a condition that damages your stem cells? Has your bone marrow become dysfunctional because of disease, or have you discovered that your stem cells are depleted because of the treatment of that disease? When produced naturally in the body, stem cells are the building blocks that will eventually become the bones in your skeleton, sections of your heart muscle, nerve cells and other organs and tissue. As you can see, stem cells are the master cells, essential to the basic functions of the human body. If you’re suffering from a condition in which these cells are dying or malfunctioning, you might benefit from a stem cell transplant.
If you’ve never heard of a stem cell transplant before, it is the medical process of transferring stem cells from a healthy body to those of a person that needs their stem cells to be replenished. Doctors regularly recommend this procedure for people that are afflicted with both cancerous (malignant) and noncancerous (nonmalignant) diseases. This procedure is performed in hopes that the body will be able to replace bone marrow that is not fulfilling its proper function, and to destroy bone marrow that may be carrying cancer cells to other parts of the body.
Although people suffering from cancerous bone marrow or other related conditions might be desperate for any option that could offer them the hope of recovery, it’s important to remember that a stem cell transplant is a serious and dangerous medical condition. One of the most significant risks is that the patient might develop graft-versus-host disease which can occur during a transplant from a donor. This disease is a result of the donor cells attacking the host’s cells, which can result in rashes, nausea, and abdominal pain. These symptoms can occur soon after the transplant, or years later.
If you’re considering an allogenic stem cell transplant (where cells are donated from another person) it’s important that you talk with your doctor about the pre-treatment conditions that must be met. You have to be ready to undergo chemotherapy and radiation prior to the transplant procedure, and you also have to be confident that your doctor will be able to adequately monitor your condition for signs that the body is rejecting the transplant. If you don’t catch the signs of graft-versus-host disease early they can be fatal. Keep in mind that it’s also possible to donate your own stem cells to the process.
