Understanding the Different Types of Bone Marrow Transplants

Bone marrow transplant is a crucial kind of therapy for certain cancer patients. Bone marrow transplants are often life-saving procedures which substantially enhance the quality of cancer patients’ lives. 

Bone marrow transplant is a fairly technical topic. Keep reading further to learn the essential factors of bone marrow transplants and answer all your questions! 

What Is A Bone Marrow Transplant? 

A bone marrow transplant involves transferring healthy cells from the bone marrow of donors to the patient.

Cancer can cause abnormalities in the normal bone marrow of the patient, making it unhealthy. The patient’s abnormal cells and bone marrow need to be destroyed before they can cause damage to the body. 

After the destruction of the unhealthy cells, a bone marrow transplant(BMT) is used to rehabilitate patients’ bone marrow with healthy cells from the donor. 

Which Diseases Can Benefit From Bone Marrow Transplant? 

Bone marrow transplant(BMT) can be used as a treatment option for the following diseases:

• Immune deficiency disorders 
• Leukemias 
• Multiple myeloma
• Severe aplastic anemia
• Lymphomas 

Bone marrow transplant(BMT) can work miracles for some patients. Unfortunately, not everyone is the right fit for a BMT, and finding the right donor is never easy. 

What Are The Different Types Of Bone Marrow Transplants? 

Bone marrow transplants are divided based on who the donor is. Your doctor can only advise you on the best type of BMT for your condition. 

The following are the types:

Autologous Bone Marrow Transplant(BMT)

Autologous BMT involves harvesting the bone marrow cells from the patient before they undergo chemotherapy. After treatment, these cells are stored and re-introduced into the patient’s body. 

Procedure:

• Stem cells are collected from the patient’s bloodstream or bone marrow. 
• These cells are frozen and stored. 
• After intensive treatment, these cells are reintroduced into the patient’s body. 

Risk Factors

• The disease can relapse after the treatment. Since the reintroduced cells are from the same patient’s body, there is a possibility that residual cancer cells get reintroduced. Thus, disease replacement is a risk factor in autologous BMT. 
• Although it’s rare, the transplanted cells may fail to engraft and produce new cells. This case is called a Graft rejection. 

Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant(BMT) 

In an allogeneic transplant, the bone marrow cells of a donor whose tissue type closely matches the patient. The donors are primarily siblings and genetically match the patient the most. 

Rarely can a parent be a donor, and half of the genetic structure is similar to the patient. 

An unrelated bone marrow transplant is when a purely unrelated individual whose genetic type matches considerably with the patient is the donor. 

Procedure

• Several tests are performed to ensure that the donor and patient match genetically. 
• Cells are harvested from the donor from peripheral blood or bone marrow. 
• After conditioning therapies, the donor cells are transfused into the patient’s bloodstream. 

Risk Factors 

• Graft-versus Host Rejection(GVHD): Allogeneic BMT can lead to severe GVHD since the donor cells are not from the same person. 
• Organ damage: A conditional therapy is performed before the donor cells are infused into the patient. Severe conditional therapy can damage organs like the lungs, liver or heart. 

Haploidentical Bone Marrow Transplant(BMT) 

Finding an allogeneic donor is often a daunting task. Haploidentical BMT was introduced as a sub-type of Allogeneic BMT to expand the potential donor pool. 

The donor in Haploidentical BMT is partially identical to the patient. In other words, the donor can be similar to the patient’s parent. 

Procedure 

• Cells are harvested from a partially matched donor. 
• Patients receive a combination of conditioning therapy, after which these cells can be infused into patients. 

Risk Factors

• Higher risk of GVHD: Since the donor is identical only to a parent of the donor, the risk of GVHD increases. 
• Delayed recovery: When patients receive haploidentical BMT, they must take high doses of immunosuppressives. In such a case, the immune recovery can be slower.

Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant 

The umbilical cord blood contains a good amount of stem cells. These cells are collected at the time of birth. They are reproduced, counted and stored in freezing temperatures until the individual needs them in case of a disease later in life. 

Procedure 

• Cord blood units are tested and matched to the patient. 
• The cells are collected and infused into the patient after conditioning therapy. 

Risk Factors 

• Delayed engraftment: Umbilical blood has a limited number of stem cells. Thus, the entire engraftment may take longer than other types of BMT. 

How Are Donors And Recipients Matched? 

Donors and recipients are matched by HLA typing. Everyone has some antigens on white blood cells that define their immune system. If two individuals have identical antigens, they can make a donor-recipient pair. 

There are almost 100 HLA antigens which need to be matched. Some of these are major, and others are minor antigens. The significant antigens must be matched as their unmatch can lead to severe GVHD. The minor antigens have a limited role in GVHD. 

The more antigens match, the better the chances of a successful BMT. 

Identical twins make the best donor-recipient pairs. This happens due to almost similar genetic makeup. 

However, parents and unrelated relatives also make up for potential donors. 

Conclusion 

Choosing the right hospital is critical to ensure the best bone marrow transplant. Amerix Cancer Hospital provides all the essential tests,procedures, and post operative care required for bone marrow transplants.

You may book a consultation now to know more about the facilities and treatments offered at Amerix Cancer Hospital.  treatments and supportive care essential for bone marrow transplant patients.

Frequently Asked Questions