If a Person Gives a Bone Marrow Transplant Once Can They Give It Again

Stem jail cell or bone marrow transplants for astute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)

You might take a stem cell or os marrow transplant as part of your treatment for astute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

A transplant allows you to have high doses of chemotherapy and other treatments. The stem cells are collected from the bloodstream or the bone marrow.

Your doctor might suggest a transplant if your ALL:

• has features that show it is likely to come back (loftier risk)
• has come up back (relapsed ALL)

What are stem cells?

Stem cells are very early cells fabricated in the bone marrow. Os marrow is a spongy material that fills the basic.

These stem cells develop into red claret cells, white claret cells and platelets.

Blood-red blood cells incorporate haemoglobin which carries oxygen around the body. White claret cells are function of your immune organisation and aid to fight infection. Platelets aid to clot the blood to forestall haemorrhage.

What's the difference between a stem jail cell transplant and a bone marrow transplant?

A stem cell transplant uses stalk cells from the bloodstream. This is also chosen a peripheral blood stalk cell transplant (PBSCT). A bone marrow transplant uses stem cells direct from the bone marrow.

In ALL, you have the stem cells from someone else (a donor). This is known as an allogeneic transplant or allograft.

You might have stem cells from:

• a brother or sister (sibling lucifer)
• a person unrelated to you whose stem cells are similar to yours (matched unrelated donor or MUD)
• string blood stem cells (umbilical string)

How practise transplants piece of work?

Before the transplant y'all have handling to prepare your torso to receive the stem cells. You might hear this called conditioning handling.

There are 2 main types of conditioning handling. These are:

• myeloablative workout
• reduced intensity conditioning (RIC)

For myeloablative conditioning you have very high doses of chemotherapy. With reduced intensity conditioning you have lower doses of chemotherapy. You might also take other treatments such equally radiotherapy to the whole body (total body irradiation or TBI).

The treatment kills the leukaemia cells as well as the salubrious cells in your os marrow. This makes space in your os marrow for the donor stem cells. It too dampens downward your immune system so you don't pass up the donor cells.

After the conditioning treatment you lot take the stem cells into your bloodstream through a baste. The cells find their way back to your bone marrow. Your trunk so starts making blood cells again and your os marrow slowly recovers.

Recovering from your transplant

You have very low numbers of claret cells for some fourth dimension subsequently your transplant. Information technology takes a while for your os marrow to start making blood cells once again and for your claret counts to come upward. Your doctors call this engraftment. Engraftment tin can take between about 2 to 3 weeks, but it tin have longer.

One of the main issues with this is it ways you're at very high risk of picking upwards infections. For this reason, you lot stay in hospital in a room on your own until you're well enough to go domicile.

Your room usually has special air filters. These filters trap bacteria that might be in the air that could crusade infection. Anyone who enters your room will accept to follow strict infection control procedures.

It doesn't mean you tin can't accept visitors, merely your nurse may suggest limiting them to one or ii each day. If your visitors are unwell they won't be allowed to come across you. They should too stay away if they have been in contact with someone who has an infectious illness.

Your nurse may suggest that family unit and friends contact y'all earlier visiting to make sure yous feel up to it.

You might have to follow a special diet including foods that are unlikely to give you an infection.

There are other possible side effects of having a transplant. Not everyone will get them and the severity of each side event will vary from person to person. You usually start to feel better as your blood counts recover. This is a brusk summary of some of the other possible side effects:

Breathlessness and looking stake

You lot might be breathless and expect stake due to a drop in cherry blood cells. This is called anaemia. If your counts are very depression or you lot have symptoms y'all might accept a blood transfusion.

Bruising, bleeding gums or nose bleeds

This is due to a drop in the number of platelets in your blood. These blood cells help the claret to clot when we cut ourselves. You may accept nosebleeds or bleeding gums after brushing your teeth. Or yous may have lots of tiny red spots or bruises on your arms or legs (known as petechiae).

If your platelet count is too low or y'all accept symptoms you may have a platelet transfusion.

Feeling or beingness sick

Feeling or existence ill is unremarkably well controlled with anti sickness medicines. Fugitive fat or fried foods, eating pocket-sized meals and snacks, drinking plenty of water, and relaxation techniques can all help.

Your nurse will give you anti sickness medicines regularly.

Tiredness and weakness

You lot might feel very tired and equally though you lack free energy. This can last for a long time afterward a transplant.

Various things can assistance you to reduce tiredness and cope with it, for example some gentle practise, even if it's walking around your room to begin with.

Graft versus host disease (GvHD)

If you accept had a transplant from a relative or a matched unrelated donor, yous are at chance of GvHD. This is because the stalk cells comprise immune cells from the donor. These cells can sometimes attack some of your own body cells. Symptoms of GvHD include:

• diarrhoea
• weight loss
• yellowing of the whites of the eyes and peel (jaundice)
• skin rashes
• shortness of breath

Let your nurse or doctor know if you lot have any of these symptoms.

Hair loss

You lose all your hair with ALL treatment. This includes your eyelashes, eyebrows, underarm, leg and sometimes pubic hair. Your hair will usually grow back once treatment has finished just information technology is likely to be softer. Information technology may grow back a unlike colour or be curlier than before.

Sore oral cavity and ulcers

Oral cavity sores and ulcers can be painful. Here are some useful tips to aid:

• Keep your mouth and teeth make clean.
• Drink enough of fluids.
• Avoid acidic foods such as oranges, lemons and grapefruits.
• Chew gum to continue the mouth moist.

Tell your doctor or nurse if you take ulcers.

Loss of fertility

You may not be able to become pregnant or begetter a child after having a transplant for ALL. Talk to your dr. before starting treatment if y'all think you may want to have a infant in the future.

Coping

Being in isolation is tough. Staying in a single room in infirmary can feel lonely and people often become bored easily. Some people find it frightening. It tin can help to talk to the nurses about your worries.

Taking in some of your personal things can make the room feel more homely. You lot tin can also take in your mobile phone, laptop, tablet or music. This tin help the time to laissez passer and you tin keep in impact with your friends and family.

During your transplant yous're likely to feel physically and mentally exhausted. The handling is very intense and will touch on different parts of your body. Don't be hard on yourself as its normal to feel like this. This is likewise expected to concluding sometime after your transplant. At that place are things you can exercise to keep yourself physically active as possible. Here are some tips:

• Go into a routine - it's piece of cake to just lie in bed all day and stay in your pyjama'south. Aim to get dressed and washed by a certain time. This volition help you experience fresh and motivated.
• Attempt to sit out of bed in a chair at mealtimes instead of propped up in bed.
• While you are in hospital you may meet a physiotherapist. You can gear up a program together of rubber gentle exercises you can practise even while in isolation. You lot can also employ this when you go home.
• If you lot're feeling up to it, set a goal and take several walks around your room a few times a twenty-four hours. Yous can build this up to longer walks when you go dwelling house.

Go along your mind active. At that place will be times where yous struggle to concentrate and focus. This is normal. Endeavour to do a variety of things to keep yourself occupied such equally:

• jigsaw puzzles
• books to read
• puzzle books
• creative hobbies you might have

About chiefly, listen to your body. Don't exist hard on yourself if you lot are having an off day or are likewise unwell to complete the above tasks that solar day.

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Source: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/acute-lymphoblastic-leukaemia-all/treatment/bone-marrow-or-stem-cell-transplant