Anyone heard of bone marrow transplant for Non-Hodg. Lymphoma? ?!


Question: Anyone heard of bone marrow transplant for Non-Hodg!. Lymphoma!? !?
My friend has had chemo twice already!. She sounded upbeat, but it kind of sounds like a last ditch effort - I am worried :(Www@Answer-Health@Com


Answers:
In a way, they are kind of a last ditch effort after chemotherapy has failed!. But they are not a hopeless effort!. Bone marrow transplants are done fairly commonly for relapsed lymphoma (both Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkin's)!. In a number of cases, it can result in a very long-term remission!. A lot depends on the kind of lymphoma, though, so it's hard to generalize!. Bone marrow / stem cell transplants are very serious procedures with associated risks, but they are done fairly routinely by major medical centers!.

There are basically two kinds -- auto transplants and allo transplants!. Auto involves using your own cells, whereas an allo means you get cells from a donor!. If the cells come from the bone marrow itself, it's usually called a bone marrow transplant!. If the cells come from the blood, it's usually called a stem cell transplant!. Usually allo refers to a bone marrow transplant, and auto to a stem cell transplant, but I have heard of allo stem cell transplants and auto bone marrow transplants!.

Autos generally are considered safer because allos involve a risk of graft versus host disease -- basically this is rejection!. However, the graft vs host effect sometimes has an advantage in killing some types of cancer!.

What happens in either case with lymphoma is the patient usually gets some kind of "salvage chemotherapy" -- this could be one cycle or multiple cycles!. This hopefully achieves remission!. The patient then is usually admitted to the hospital for high dose chemotherapy!. This high dose chemotherapy wipes out the bone marrow, so the patient can't fight infections!. A day or two later, they do the transplant which "rescues" the patient from the low counts!. The actual transplant involves simply transfusing the prior collected cells (from the donor or the person) back into the blood!. These little cells are supposed to graft into the bone marrow and start making new baby cells!. This restarts the patient's immune system!.

Obviously, there is risk of infection, there is risk the cells won't graft, there are risks from the chemotherapy itself because it's high dose!. However, for many kinds of lymphoma that has relapsed, this is the only viable method of obtaining a lengthy remission or even a cure!.

The alternative to a transplant is to try maintaining the disease by way of clinical trials of new drugs!.

BMT and SCT are very complicated procedures, and I am only able to give you a simplified explanation!. I hope this helps you understand what your friend is facing a little better!. You might want to also read here:

http://www!.cancer!.gov/cancertopics/facts!.!.!.Www@Answer-Health@Com





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