Stem cells

Stem cell transplantation is a necessity for many cancer patients who undergo a very intense chemotherapy treatment. All the medication used to destroy the cancer cells affect all the body cells that have a high division rate, which includes bone marrow, hair follicles and digestive linings. The problem is that an anti-cancer treatment triggers the blood’s incapacity to regenerate. If the personal stem cells are destroyed only a stem cell transplantation could save one by the regeneration of the blood. To put it in other words, stem cells will turn into specialized blood cells such as platelets, white and red cells.

Bone marrow transplant represents the most basic form of stem cell transplantation, and the practice of this treatment has brought numerous successes. The cancer patient often needs a compatible donor. If the compatibility with a donor is not possible, and the intervention is pressing, then, the patient’s bone marrow tissue can be used but on the one condition that it be collected prior to the beginning of the chemotherapy treatment. The stem cells will be frozen and stored until the procedure.

Modern stem cell transplantation options include the use of umbilical cord blood or peripheral blood collected either from a donor or from the patient. Nevertheless, such procedures have just started being put into practice since they usually need modern technologies and special equipment. Hence, the bone marrow transplant still holds the main position as the well-known kind of stem cell transplantation in the world. It has a high rate of success, although several transplantation sessions are necessary before complete blood regeneration. Normally, there will be a stem cell transplantation for every intensive chemotherapy session.

It is important that the doctor, the patient and his/her family as well as the donor be informed about the risks, the success rate, the advantages and the inconveniences of a stem cell transplantation. Risks, health threats, discomforts, pain, all have to be known or explained in advance. This is why the doctor has the obligation to inform the people involved and discuss possibilities as well as methods that work for the benefit of all, so that the result of the transplantation be a successful one.