why do people have to donate bone marrow when someone has leukemia? How does that help?
I have an understanding that leukemia deals with the overproduction of leukocytes (white blood cells). And yet, what's wrong with that? I think that leukemia is a type of cancer.. so if it is then how does bone marrow stop the cancer? Thanks for considering this question.
- WISE INDIAN BALLA
Bone marrow is what makes the blood cells. Inserting non cancerous marrow reduces production of bad marrow.
- tkwestlie
Leukemia is the general term used to describe the condition of the bone marrow that produces far too many white blood cells (WBC). There are many types of WBCs and therefore different types of leukemia. The over-produced WBCs can be damaged or non-functional causing problems throughout the body.
One of the treatment options for a person with leukemia is a bone marrow transplant. To do this transplant radiation and other chemicals are used to destroy the patient's cancerous bone marrow. New, healthy marrow from a donor is then infused into the patient where it will hopefully start producing new, healthy WBCs.
Bone marrow transplants are risky because the patient's immune system (which is dependent on WBCs) must be destroyed leaving the person very vulnerable to infection. Also, the donor marrow doesn't always take, again leaving the patient without an immune system. To prevent this failure there are multiple tests that doctors do to make sure that the patient and the donor have as closely matching bone marrow as possible.
- Newarview
A very good question. A bone marrow transplant doesn't stop the cancer per se, it replaces bone marrow cells damaged by chemotherapy with healthy bone marrow.
The Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center provides an excellent summary on bone marrow transplants. See the site for more information, but here is an explanatory excerpt pertaining directly to your question:
In patients with leukemia, aplastic anemia, and some immune deficiency diseases, the stem cells in the bone marrow malfunction, producing an excessive number of defective or immature blood cells (in the case of leukemia) or low blood cell counts (in the case of aplastic anemia). The immature or defective blood cells interfere with the production of normal blood cells, accumulate in the bloodstream and may invade other tissues.
Large doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation are required to destroy the abnormal stem cells and abnormal blood cells. These therapies, however, not only kill the abnormal cells but can destroy normal cells found in the bone marrow as well. Similarly, aggressive chemotherapy used to treat some lymphomas and other cancers can destroy healthy bone marrow.
A bone marrow transplant enables physicians to treat these diseases with aggressive chemotherapy and/or radiation by allowing replacement of the diseased or damaged bone marrow after the chemotherapy/radiation treatment.
While bone marrow transplants do not provide 100 percent assurance that the disease will not recur, a transplant can increase the likelihood of a cure or at least prolong the period of disease-free survival for many patients.
Hope this helps!
Newarview
- EmilyRose
Leukemia is a type of cancer characterized by overproduction of blood cells, typically the leukocytes (white blood cells). Like with most cancers, the extra cells tend to be non-functional. The non-functional cancer cells proliferate more quickly than normal cells, and tend to crowd the normal cells, taking over space until there are not enough normal cells left. In leukemia, this occurs in the bone marrow, where the abnormal blood cells are produced. This typically results in a lack of platelets (which are also produced in the bone marrow, and are involved in blood clotting), red blood cells, and in many cases functional white blood cells.
The lack of platelets results in reduced clotting ability, so the patient tends to bruise more easily and is at increased risk for excessive bleeding after an injury. The lack of red blood cells causes anemia, which basically means that there aren't enough red blood cells to transport enough oxygen everywhere in the body. And finally, the decrease in functional white blood cells weakens the patient's immune system.
Blood cells are produced in the bone marrow, and the basic reason that blood cells are being overproduced in patients with leukemia is that the bone marrow is making too many, which is why treatment for leukemia tends to focus on the bone marrow rather than the blood. The symptoms of the disease are most readily visible in the blood, but it's really the bone marrow that's sick.
When a patient has a bone marrow transplant, before the donor marrow is implanted, the patient's own bone marrow is destroyed with a high dose of radiation. After the patient's bone marrow is ablated (which is just a fancy word for removed or gotten rid of), the donor marrow is implanted into the patient's bone. The new bone marrow grows, and after a while there's enough of it to produce normal numbers of the various types of blood cells and otherwise function as normal, healthy bone marrow. Basically, the transplant just replaces the sick bone marrow with healthy bone marrow so the patient (ideally) doesn't have leukemia anymore.
Leukemia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment of this blood-related cancer.
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