What is a Bone Marrow?!


Question: What is a Bone Marrow.?
When people talk about cancer, they're always talking about a bone marrow transplant. What is a bone marrow.?Health Question & Answer


Answers:
Well, the first answer gave the definition. Its the stuff inside of our bones. It also contains the adult hematopoetic stem cells that make our blood. A bone marrow transplant kills the patients existing marrow, and replaces it with donor marrow. Its a lil complicated on how it works, but for some types of cancer like leukemias or lymphomas it can help. These cancers originate in the bone marrow, which is why it helps. Like with my type of leukemia, aml, my marrow was mass producing leukemia cells instead of all the healthy blood cells it should have been producing. The transplant I had killed my marrow, therefore hopefully killing the leukemia. Then it replaced my marrow with donor cell hematopoetic stem cells which then formed new, healthy marrow which then formed new, healthy blood. High dose chemo and full body radiation are used to kill the existing marrow, and the new stem cells are infused via IV and by some way that is a lil over my head, naturally make their way to the bone, engraft, and start making the new marrow and new blood.

Because the marrow forms the (or part of the) immune system (white blood cells), several auto immune disorders as well as other types of non cancerous blood diseases can be treated with the same transplant. In fact, this transplant is responsible for a majority of the 70+ diseases that adult stem cells can treat. The transplant can use hematopoetic stem cells that are harvested either from bone marrow, circulating blood or cord blood donated after a live and healthy birth.

You can learn more at the National Marrow Donors Program at http://www.marrow.org You can learn about the transplant, the diseases it can treat, and how to register to be a donor from that site.Health Question & Answer

Bone marrow is the center of the bone, that has 2 colors, red and yellow, and simply speaking it is the primary place of blood reproduction.Health Question & Answer



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