Bone marrow transplant

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Bone marrow aspiration

Bone marrow from hip

Bone-marrow transplant - series

Formed elements of blood

Transplant - bone marrow

The risks for any anesthesia are:

• Reactions to medications
• Problems breathing

Chemotherapy given prior to bone marrow transplant (conditioning) may cause significant toxicity, such as mouth sores, diarrhea, liver damage, or lung damage. While waiting for bone marrow to grow, the patient is at high risk for infection.

The major problem with bone marrow transplants -- when the marrow comes from a donor, not the patient -- is graft-versus-host disease. The transplanted healthy bone marrow cells may attack the patient's cells as though they were foreign organisms. In this case, drugs to suppress the immune system must be taken, but this also decreases the body's ability to fight infections.

Review Date: 10/30/2006
Reviewed By: William Matsui, MD, Assistant Professor of Oncology, Division of Hematologic Malignancies, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.