Stem cell transplant????!
Question:
Stem cell transplant????
my motheris in hosp after getting her own stem cells put back into her she has myeloma cancer of the bone morrow how long will she get from this treatment?? as they took extra for when she relaps....
Answers:
Your mother had a treatment called autologous stem cell transplant that is often used for solid tumors or Multiple Myeloma. I am not familiar with the success rate or relapse rate with MM, but if you go to this support site they describe the treatment:
http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/treatment...
"Stem cell transplantation, performed as support for high-dose chemotherapy, is a treatment option for many patients with myeloma. Studies have shown that this treatment improves both the response rate and survival in myeloma over that obtained with conventional chemotherapy.
The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) estimates that approximately 4,700 stem cell transplants of various types were performed in patients with myeloma in North America in 2003 (CIBMTR, 2005).*
I am familiar with stem cell transplants because this treatment was also offered to my son who has an abdominal sarcoma. He had the stem cells removed from his blood (everyone has stem cells!!) in a process called harvesting (similar to dialysis). The stem cells are filtered from the blood and frozen for use at a later date. In the case of stem cell transplant the patient is than given high doses of chemotherapy which kills all cancer cells but also dampers the immune system. The patients own stem cells are than given back to him much like a blood transfusion. It takes about two weeks or more for the stem cells to start rebuilding the immune system.
Medline Plus: Stem Cells and Stem Cell Transplantation
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/stemc...
NCI: Bone Marrow Transplantation and Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation: Questions and Answers
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/facts...
American Cancer Society: Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplants
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/eto/eto_1_...
For specific questions about Multiple Myleoma you could contact or join the following groups:
http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/...
http://www.myeloma.org/
And a listserve group:
MYELOMA Multiple Myeloma Support List
http://listserv.acor.org/archives/myelom...