Why the procedure id performed?
A bone marrow transplant replaces bone marrow that is either not working properly or has been destroyed (ablated) by chemotherapy or radiation. Doctors believe that for many cancers, the donor’s white blood cells may attack any remaining cancer cells, similar to when white cells attack bacteria or viruses when fighting an infection. Your doctor may recommend a bone marrow transplant if you have:

• Certain cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplasia, and multiple myeloma
• A disease that affects the production of bone marrow cells, such as aplastic anemia, congenital neutropenia, severe immune system illnesses, sickle cell anemia, and thalassemia
• Had chemotherapy that destroyed your bone marrow

Risks

• A bone marrow transplant may cause the following symptoms:
• Chest Pain
• Drop in blood pressure
• Fever, Chills, Flushing
• Funny taste in the mouth
• Headache
• Hives
• Nausea
• Pain
• Shortness in breathing

Possible complications of a bone marrow transplant depend on many things, including:

• Whether you had chemotherapy or radiation before the bone marrow transplant and the dosages of such treatments
• Your age
• Your Overall Health
• How good of a match your donor was
• The type of bone marrow transplant you received (autologous, allogeneic, or umbilical cord blood)

Complications may include:

• Anaemia
• Bleeding in the lungs, intestines, brain, and other areas of the body
• Cataracts
• Clotting in the small veins of the liver
• Damage to the kidneys, liver, lungs, and heart
• Delayed growth in children who receive a bone marrow transplant
• Early menopause
• Graft failure, which means that the new cells do not settle into the body and start producing stem cells
• Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a condition in which the donor cells attack your own body
• Infections, which can be very serious
• Inflammation and soreness in the mouth, throat, esophagus, and stomach, called mucositis
• Pain
• Stomach problems, including diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting

Before the procedure

Your health care provider will ask about your medical history and do a physical exam. You will have many tests before treatment begins.

Before transplant, you will have 1 or 2 tubes, called catheters, inserted into a blood vessel in your neck or arms. This tube allows you to receive treatments, fluids, and sometimes nutrition. It is also used to draw blood.

Your provider will likely discuss the emotional stress of having a bone marrow transplant. You may want to meet with a counselor. It is important to talk to your family and children to help them understand what to expect.

After the procedure

A bone marrow transplant is usually done in a hospital or medical center that specializes in such treatment. Most of the time, you stay in a special bone marrow transplant unit in the center. This is to limit your chance of getting an infection.

Depending on the treatment and where it is done, all or part of an autologous or allogeneic transplant may be done as an outpatient. This means you do not have to stay in the hospital overnight.