You feel the need for a bone marrow transplant when damage occurs to the marrow in your body. This damage occurs due to diseases most of the time and sometimes this may occur in the course of the treatment given to cure other diseases such as cancer.
Find the donor first
The first step in any transplant is to find the donor or donors who are ready to give you the bone marrow. You do this when your own bone marrow is so much damaged that you cannot use it to combat the disease. Make a list of the donors and fix an appointment for them with the hospital where you will do the transplant.
If you need a transplant, check the list of bone marrow transplant hospitals in India and choose one that is near you. You can consult the doctors online and check the available dates and the procedure for taking treatment.
Stimulating marrow to enter bloodstream
They separate the blood cells and collect them through a process known as aphaeresis. But first, the donor receives a series of injections. These are Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) injections that help stimulate the stem cells to enter the bloodstream. In normal situations, they give four injections over four days. After the donor receives the injections the stems cells enter the bloodstream. Once the level of the Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (PBSC) reaches a level high enough, they withdraw the cells from the blood of the donor.
They do this by attaching the blood cell separator (aphaeresis machine) to the donor. When this process is underway, the donor need not do anything special. He or she may relax in a chair, watch the TV, read a magazine, or anything else. They will not feel any pain but have some dizziness. After the procedure is over they must wait for ten minutes before they can resume their normal duties.
Collecting the donor cells
Then, there are two ways to collect the donor stem cells. One is the bone marrow harvest. The donor receives general anaesthesia and will fall asleep during the procedure. They remove the bone marrow from the back of both hip bones. The amount they will take depends on the weight of the person who is donating the bone marrow.
The second method is the one described above. Here they give shots to the donor to move the stem cells to the bloodstream and then filter it. The red blood cells will go back to the donor.
You can check with some of the famous hospitals for bone marrow transplant in India and fix an appointment. The surgeon will check your physical condition and suggest the next step. You might have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks until the treatment is over. If you have medical insurance, then check with the hospital authorities for the process involved in using the insurance to cover your bill.
In most cases, there might be a relapse and so you might have to repeat the treatment. But, the physician treating you will know all about it and tell you what to do.
