Umbilical cord Blood As Treatment For Leukemia

There are a couple of different diseases involving one’s bone marrow that anyone can develop. Diseases of the bone marrow can develop from an infection or a malignancy. A malignancy is also known as a cancer. One type of infection found to disease bone marrow is called tuberculosis. Tuberculosis leads to the decrease in production of blood cells and blood platelets. Cancer of the marrow in a human being is known as a leukemia. Other problems of the marrow are anemias, lymphomas and plasma cell disorders. To diagnose these diseases a doctor usually performs a bone marrow aspiration. This can also be known as a biopsy. The site of the aspiration is usually on the back of the hip bone. During the biopsy the doctors test the sample for different signs of cancer or any other infection of the bone marrow. Bone marrow diseases and leukemia cannot be prevented. They are treatable but not preventable. They can be caused by the lack of blood cell production or the overproduction of one type of blood cell over the other.

All blood cells are produced in bone marrow. Due to some unknown reasons, damage is caused to the DNA of cells (mostly white blood cells). As a result of this damage, bone marrow produces abnormal cells. These abnormal cells are produced at rapid speed. Normal body cells are replaced by fresh healthy cells after few months but these abnormal cells last for long time. Eventually, abnormal cells replace almost all of the normal cells if left untreated. This situation is called leukemia. Leukemia is also called cancer of bone marrow because it starts in bone marrow. There are a number of blood vessels and the capillaries that pass through the marrow. During early childhood, most of the marrow is colored red. But as you get ages more and more, the red ones are converted to the yellow type. It is studied that about half of mature person’s leukemia bone marrow transplant marrow is red.

These types of cancer are difficult to diagnose early because their symptoms are non specific. Some of the symptoms are: easy bruising, night sweats, swollen lymph nodes (without pain), and fever without infection, unexplained bleeding, weight loss, bone and joint pain. These symptoms depend on the type of blood cancer involved. In multiple myeloma, there is often bone and joint pain as a first symptom because of destruction of the bone cells. leukemia bone marrow transplant is suspected with chronic anemia, night sweats, recurring infections. When lymphoma is suspected it often depends on the size and location of the swollen lymph glands.

What are the risk factors for development of leukemia or lymphoma? High exposure to radiation either through tests or during a person’s job increases the likely hood of getting leukemia. Smoking increases the chances of getting leukemia. Certain illnesses like Down syndrome increase the chances. A person with a family history of leukemia has an increased chance of having it later in life.

One treatment for leukemia is a transplant. This can be done if a donor matches a leukemia patient. Once the bone marrow from the donor is inserted into the body of the patient, if the match is successful, the newly infused cells will help with the production of blood cells. A transplant is usually only used when the situation is extremely severe for a leukemia patient. Some leukemia cases can be treated with chemotherapy and radiation techniques. Leukemia patients do not always have treatment. If the illness is dormant, cancer treatment may be put off until it surfaces. The physicians will treat the other symptoms of the illness while waiting. Some leukemia patients have chemotherapy; some are treated with radiation. There is also a target method of treatment that allows the illness to be blocked. This treatment is sometimes difficult for the patient to handle.

Then, how to use this cord blood as the treatment for leukemia? The process of the treatment begins when the blood is obtained from the giving birth mother. The patient is then given regular chemotherapy and followed by the high-dose chemotherapy. It is able to kill either normal or cancer-producing blood cells of the bone marrow. Since stem cell is able to kill the previous cells, it will replicate and replace for new cells. Cord blood can be leukemia bone marrow transplant to the patients who suffer blood disorder. However, it has limited capability in the amount of the blood-forming cells. In this case, the transplantation is mostly carried out for the children with this kind of disorder. The first step of the transplantation is giving the chemotherapy as well as radiation therapy to the patients. It is able to destroy the cells of disease in the body. Collecting cord blood is nothing to worry about. It’s a painless and safe process, and is usually done in fewer than five minutes. Your health care professional will do the process in one of two ways: through a syringe or a bag. Using a syringe, he will draw the blood from the umbilical cord soon after the cord is cut. Using a bag the umbilical cord will be raised causing blood to drain leukemia bone marrow transplant into the bag. The quantity of umbilical cord blood is limited. The amount of stem cells is very crucial for any treatment. A younger patient will require less stem cells compared to an older one. If for any reason the patient requires a second graft, he will have to take a donation from outside. This may lead to more complications.