BMT- Autologous

Overview

An autologous bone marrow transplant uses the person’s own stem cells for the transplantation procedure. The healthy stem cells are collected from the patient’s own body, stored and frozen to be later used in the same body. An autologous BMT transplant is meant to replace damaged stem cells from high dose of chemotherapy with healthy stem cells.

The treatment allows people to have a long-term control and a better chance of cure of the disease. There are a number of blood cancers that are treated with autologous transplants- myeloma and leukaemias lymphomas, testicular cancer, certain solid tumours, breast cancer, osteosarcoma, etc. Some people may have a singular autologous transplant, while others may have simultaneous transplants, over the duration of a few months.

The side effects of a BMT autologous transplant are due to the conditioning therapy that may cause long-term effects. A high-dose of the treatments may affect fertility and your ability to have a baby in the future. It may also cause earlier onset of menopause in women. Before BMT autologous treatment, you should discuss about the side effects with your doctor.

Before the treatment

• Before stem cells are collected from your bloodstream, you will have to undergo a series of test like blood tests and organ tests to ensure that you are in good health to undergo the procedure.
• Some weeks before the treatment starts, you are given a kind of drug to help stimulate stem cells. This allows increasing the number of stem cells in your blood stream before they are collected by the doctor.
• On the day of collecting the stem cells, you are asked to visit the hospital. A needle is injected through your arm and the blood collected is filled in a cell separator machine, where the cells are collected, while your blood is channelled into your bloodstream through the other arm.
• The stem cells are then stored, processed and frozen until the scheduled date of the transplant.

How it is performed

• In the week of the transplant, you are first given high doses of chemotherapy to destroy the cancerous cells. This process is called conditioning therapy.
• After chemotherapy, you need to visit the hospital once more. The stem cells that were collected from your bloodstream and thawed in the laboratory and now reinfused through an IV channel in the arm.
• The stem cells travel to your bone marrow where they produce new blood cells. The procedure is painless and takes a week for the new stem cells to develop.

Recovery

After the conditioning therapy, your blood count drops drastically. You are more susceptible to bleeding and infections during this time. You are likely to get platelet transfusions to minimize risk of bleeding. You may also be given red blood cell transfusions if the haemoglobin level is low. There are certain side effects of the conditioning therapy like vomiting and nausea.

After the treatment, when the blood count starts to rise you are allowed to go home. However, you will have to come to the hospital in order to let your doctor check your blood count and how you are progressing. It may take several months for your immune system to recover. The recovery of BMT autologous treatment varies from person to person that should be consulted with your doctor.