#stempcell

Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells and bone marrow, which means it results in excessive growth of white blood cells. The mutation in the bone marrow cells causes dysfunctionality and under-development of the body. While leukemia cases are approximated to be 3.4% of the total cancer cases, the success percentage of the treatment of the same has also increased. The general treatments for leukemia are surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or a set of these based on the type and stage of cancer. These treatments require further medication to improve the immune system deteriorated during the period and sometimes even end up with destroying the healthy blood cells.

The world is bestowed with a profound technique, namely, Stem Cell therapy or Stem Cell Transplant which helps in restoring your immune system and curing the disease at once. Stem cells are a kind of special cell possessing the ability to develop into any kind of cell as required, these are being frequently used to replace the cancer cells with healthy ones. The source of the stem cells is either from Adult body tissues or Embryo cells. 

Stem cell therapy stimulates the growth of new bone marrow cells which results in the repopulation of healthy blood cells and replenishing the body’s self-defense. There are two types of stem cell transplants, namely:-

Autologous Stem Cell Transplant 

Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant

Autologous transplant- This transplant involves the extraction of stem cells from the patient’s blood or bone marrow during the most stable condition of the patient. If extraction from bone marrow is to be avoided then stem cells from the bone marrow are pushed out to the bloodstream. The stem cells are collected by passing all the blood through an apheresis machine that draws out stem cells from the blood and returns the rest of the blood.  Further, these are harvested, frozen, and preserved until ready to be infused back into the patient’s body. This transplant can only be pursued if the patient is not suffering from any fatal condition. 

Allogeneic transplant- The transplantation involves infusing stem cells, extracted from a donor who is genetically matched with the patient. Usually, the donor may be a sibling or any blood-related person, just in case no one is available then, the nearest genetically equivalent person can also donate to the patient. Though this transplant is quite preferable around the world, still there might occur many complications in case the donor is mismatched. 

It is very important to be well aware of the fact that the person must be physically fit enough before going through the transplant. The procedure takes a longer period and nine different stages which are as follows:-

Planning

“Work ” Pre-Transplant

Conditioning therapy and TBI

Transplantation

Pre-Engraftment

Post-transplant complications(if any)

Discharging from hospital

 Side-effects resolution (if any)

Recuperation

These nine stages remain the same for both transplants. The whole treatment comprises recovery from any relapse if any, ensuring rehabilitation. 

The average cost of an Autologous transplant is $10,000 to $39,796 and for an Allogenic transplant, it lies between $10,832 to $44,701. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc. July 1, 2014)