All You Should Know About Finding The Right Match For Bone Marrow Transplant

A Transplant for the bone marrow is needed for people with conditions like myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia. Before the transplant commences the patient will have to undergo several sessions of chemotherapy and several treatments. People generally get transplants by using stem cells from their bodies or other donors.

How Are The Donor Cells Matched?

If you want to donate your stem cells for the process, your cells have to be a perfect match with the recipient. To know for sure you may have to go in for a standard Blood test. The blood test will reveal the tissue type. The professionals at the laboratory will examine the surface of the blood and then decide if you are a perfect match for bone marrow donation.

Every individual has their type of protein in the stem cell donation. The professionals will look for HLA markers, which are a kind of protein. They look at 10HLA markers to conclude the results. Should the test reveal a good HLA match then you can donate your cells to the recipient.

Donating To Relatives

Typically it is seen that a sister or a brother has more compatibility. This is known as an MRD transplant. Other people in the family have a high chance of sharing low compatibility. This is often a source of frustration for relatives who are willing to donate.

What About Partial Compatibility?

Donors who are 50 percent compatible with the recipient may be able to donate cells and the process is called Haploidentical transplant.

What About Zero Compatibility?

The answer to this is obvious you cannot bone marrow transplant blood type match or stem cells to the recipient. However, sometimes you can get a donor from outside the family if they are a perfect match. It is best to look for people who have had their tissue type examined.

How Can You Be A Donor For Somebody Else?

You may not be able to donate to a relative, but you can always donate to other people to save their lives. You can perform this by getting in touch with the registers in America. There are many registers in America and they have a strong network with each other. So, they help the patient’s family get in touch with the bone marrow transplant donor match and the doctors take it from there.

What Are The Risks Of Bone Marrow Transplant?

Though the success of this procedure is high, there are some risks associated with this. The risks can range from GVHD to other serious infections. These could have very negative effects on the patient’s body.

Wrapping Up

For most patients, this transplant procedure is a lifesaver and it does offer a longer and healthier life. This is the ultimate and only cure for leukemia. This treatment is provided to people of all age groups. The treatment is completely painless, but the recovery time may belong. Patients will have to lead a disciplined life and may have to go in for tests to see if the body is cancer-free. So, feel free to consult a doctor right away.

 

Contact Us:

Gift of Life Marrow Registry

Address: 800 Yamato Rd suite 101 Boca Raton, FL 33487
Phone: (800) 962-7769