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Stem Cell Transplant
By Spa guru | August 19, 2009
A stem cell transplant is a medical procedure consisting of the transfer of stem cells into the system of a cancer patient who is undergoing chemotherapy. The thing is that the powerful chemo-drugs used for reducing tumors also destroy the cells responsible for blood regeneration. Therefore, depending on the intensity of the cancer treatment and the chemotherapy cycles, doctors often recommend and perform a periodical stem cell transplant. Not any patient will qualify for this kind of therapy or even need it. But the course of action is usually established by one doctor or a team of experts after analyzing the patient’s condition, the chemotherapy sessions and the responsiveness to the treatment.
The use of a donor or the collection of individual stem cells is one main issue to consider once the necessity of a stem cell transplant has been established. The collection operation for individual transfers has to take place before the administration of the chemotherapy drugs. Then, the stem cells will be frozen and stored until used. When a donor is available, then the transfer of cells occurs only just before the intervention without any necessity of storing the biological material. It is preferred to undergo a stem cell transplant from a donor because when using the patient’s cells, there is the risk of a reaction from the immune system.
Bone marrow collection was the only way to get the stem cells a few years ago, but science has made quite a progress in this direction. Such a procedure used to be pretty dreaded because of the pain and discomfort associated with it. Yet, at present, stem cells can be extracted from the peripheral blood as well, and then, be used for transplants. It is true that for the moment, bone marrow transplants are more used or common, but the one relying on peripheral blood is gaining territory and will impose itself eventually.
The stem cell transplant may also be performed with umbilical cord blood, but this is by far a less usual procedure, because the number of stem cells that can be extracted from the umbilical cord is pretty reduced. New studies have also proved that umbilical cord stem cells from more patients be combined and used to suit a specific medical condition. And last but not least, an even more unusual and rare case of stem cell transplant is that from an identical twin, in which case the compatibility is expected to be very high.
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