It is a fact that bone marrow transplant doctors request that donors be in the age group of 18 to 45 years. These age guidelines which are followed in about 95 percent of bone marrow donors are not meant to discriminate, but are here for the safety of donors & for providing the best outcomes for patients. Since bone marrow donation is a voluntary procedure, the donor must be at least 18 years of age so as to be able to give legal informed consent. The upper cut off age for being an adult bone marrow donor is generally 61 years since people above this age are at increased risk of complications during & even after bone marrow donation.
What is Bone Marrow?
Bone marrow is basically soft tissue found within bones where immature stem cells are found which can become any type of blood cells. Bone marrow transplant is generally performed when either chemotherapy has destroyed them or when disease has affected the ability of bone marrow to produce healthy blood cells. Bone marrow transplants are normally used to treat cancers of the blood like multiple myeloma, lymphoma & leukemia. In quite a few cases the patients’ own bone marrow is derived from blood prior to application of chemotherapy & subsequently returned to the body after application of chemotherapy treatment.
Myths & Facts about Bone Marrow Donation
Unfortunately there are many myths about bone marrow donation which keep people away from serving this noble cause. Some facts about misconceptions concerning bone marrow donation are listed below.
- Myth – Donating bone marrow is painful.
Fact – There are two ways through which stem cells are collected from a donors’ body. Although there is some pain associated with both these methods, amount of discomfort varies from one person to another & from method to method. The peripheral blood stem cell donation is a nonsurgical method involving collecting stem cells as an outpatient procedure called apheresis. The other method involves collecting bone marrow cells from the back of pelvic bone with help of a syringe. Bone marrow donors during this procedure are administered general anesthesia during extraction which eliminates the possibility of any pain during the procedure. However, the bone marrow donor may experience some pain in hip or back for few days or few weeks following bone marrow - Myth – Donating bone marrow has long-term effects.
Fact – Wrong, bone marrow donation is relatively harmless to either methods of extraction. Normal levels of bone marrow for donors typically return within a few weeks time following donation procedure. Bone marrow donors can return back to work & other activities within 1 to 7 days of time. - Myth – Bone marrow is extracted from spine.
- Fact – Donating bone marrow has nothing to do with spine. While 75 percent cases of bone marrow donation involve peripheral blood stem cell donation procedure from the bloodstream, the less common method also involves extracting bone marrow from the back region of the pelvic bone & not the spine.
- Myth – Donating bone marrow is an expensive procedure.
- Fact – Wrong again, on the contrary there is no cost to the donor for donating stem cells or bone marrow. On the flip side bone marrow donors are normally reimbursed with lodging expenses, meals & travel costs.
- Myth – Family members can donate the required bone marrow.
- Fact – Family members & siblings only have 1 in 4 chance of closely matching with the patient. However, doctors do look towards family members first while considering bone marrow transplant. Nevertheless, only 30 percent patients are fortunate to find a match within the family. Majority of bone marrow transplant patients have to rely on donors outside the family.
Affordable Bone Marrow Transplant in India
Indian healthcare sector is highly advanced & quality of bone marrow transplants in India is at par with the best in the world. This is the reason why a growing number of international patients seeking medical procedures beyond their homeland are heading to India every year. Another reason why many people choose India for medical procedures is the fact that all types of healthcare treatments including bone marrow transplantation are commonly affordable & cost only a fraction of what similar procedures would cost in developed countries like Australia, United Kingdom, Canada or the United States.
For BMT related queries, send an E-mail at: help@travcure.com
Posted in: 
