Bone marrow transplant

Alternative names:

transplant of the bone marrow

Risks:

Risks for any anesthesia are:

• reactions to medications
• problems breathing

Risks for any surgery are:

• bleeding
• infection

Additional risks:
The major problem with bone marrow transplants (allogeneic type) is graft-versus-host disease; the opposite of the graft rejection problems seen in other transplants (transplant rejection). The transplanted healthy bone marrow cells tend to attack the patient's (host) cells as though they were foreign organisms. In this case, drugs to suppress the immune system (immunosuppression medications) must be taken indefinitely, weakening the body's ability to fight infections.