Bone Marrow Transplant in India

A special procedure called a bone marrow transplant turns damaged cells into healthy cells. The replacement bone marrow comes from either your own body or a donor. In this article, we will learn about bone marrow transplant costs in India and its procedure, and how to cure it.

To begin with, this article is about bone marrow transplants. First, let us know What is bone marrow?

It is like a soft and spongy tissue found inside our bones. The most important part of our body is where the body’s cells are developing and stored.
The bone marrow transplant is a process where the medical team takes out the cells from the bone marrow (stem cells) and then filters those cells and transfers them to another patient or donor. It is a medical treatment used to treat diseases like aplastic anemia, leukemia, lymphomas, and tumor cancers since 1968.

              Bone Marrow Transplant

What are bone marrow and stem cells?

Different Types of Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT):

There are 2 types of bone marrow transplant:

• Autologous BMT: This type of transplant is been done when patients used their blood-forming cells for treatment. For example, in cancer treatment, the medical team collects the patient’s blood cells and stores them, and then they put those cells into their bloodstream. In this process, the stem cells multiply and make the cells healthy again.
• Allogeneic BMT: In this allogeneic, the stem cells are been donated to another recipient or donor judging on his/her genetic matches. If the donor’s tissue is the same as yours this type of transplant is been called a syngeneic transplant. In this case, the donor is an identical sibling.

Why bone marrow transplant needed?

Not only bone marrow transplants, but any disease has occurred the doctors and specialist surgeons’ goal is to cure to some extent to live the rest of life with a healthy body. When it comes to bone marrow transplants their goal is to cure diseases and cancer or cancer treatment. It is been used to:

• Bone marrow/stem cells are been used to replace unhealthy cells with new ones.
• It regenerates the new immune system which will help to fight existing diseases like leukemia or cancer which are not killed by chemotherapy.
• Replacing with healthy functioning bone marrow prevents damage to genetic diseases such as Hurler’s syndrome.
• But the benefits and risks should discuss with the healthcare and specialist in bone marrow transplants before going forward to any conclusion.

Preparation for bone marrow transplant

Recipient/Patient:

The advanced procedure is been followed for the recipient:

• Extensive examination is been performed before the bone marrow transplant by the medical team.
• Proper check-ups will conduct, such as medical history of the patient it also includes the evaluation of blood and other organ functions.
• The recipient needs to visit the transplant center for 10 days before the transplant for the above-mentioned examination and evaluation.
• In allogeneic transplants suitable donors must be available. Because finding the donor is a lengthy process if the donor is not a sibling match.

Donor:

• A donor can be a parent, sibling or self, or umbilical cord from a related or unrelated person.
• If we get a potential donor or he/she gets a potential match for the patient then he/she will go for more examination. Tests will relate to the donor’s health, genetic analysis, etc. is been done.
• After getting a donor, the medical team will start the procedure to collect the stem cells or by a peripheral stem cell collection.

Procedure for bone marrow transplant

• During the transplant:

After the conditioning process (it means after completing the pre-transplant procedure or tests), the stem cells will implant through a central line of the body. It is painless and the procedure is been done while the patient is been awakened.

• After the transplant:

• New stem cells will travel through the body to your bone marrow. After some time, it will begin to make new cells and multiply them.
• You will perform certain blood assessments to ensure overall condition after the transplant.
• Under the medical or health care if it shows any complications you will stay in the hospital for several days.
• Proper medication to follow, if the stem cells is been transplanted from a donor that is an allogeneic transplant medication help to prevent GVHD and reduce the immune system’s reaction.

Risks of Bone marrow transplants

After any transplant or surgery, there is a complication. But it can cure with proper follow-up with a doctor and medication.
Such complications in bone marrow transplant are:
• Fertility problems
• Diarrhea
• Leg cramps
• Kidney or liver problem
• Breathing trouble
• Numbness in your legs or arms.

In any case, if you are getting a transplant from a donor then you must care for the symptoms of graft-vs-host disease which includes:
• Changes in appetite
• Yellow skin
• Rashes

If the disease occurs from graft-vs-host then you may have:
• Joint pain
• Mouth sores
• Eyes will become dry
• You can’t get rid of cough

What is graft-vs-host disease?

Graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) can be a serious complication disease of a bone marrow transplant. GVHD occurs against the recipient’s issue when the donor’s immune system reacts to it.

Bone marrow transplant life expectancy and success rate:

Bone marrow transplant life expectancy is improving with the progress in medicine.
If we talk about the success rate of a patient after the bone marrow transplant then it depends upon many factors like:
• Source of cells and the health condition of the patient after transplant
• Underlying diseases

The success rate of bone marrow transplants that is autologous transplants is greater than 90%.

And life expectancy depends on 2 factors:
• Matched sibling donor will increase the lifespan of 1 year is 70-80%
• Unrelated matched donor will increase the lifespan of 1 year: 50-60%

Analysis of Bone marrow transplant costs in India

A bone marrow transplant can improve the life quality of the patient. The cost of a bone marrow transplant in India varies between an autologous transplant and an allogeneic transplant. Here are some approximate costs.

Cost of Bone marrow transplant (BMT) in India with major cities:

City Average cost (INR) Average up to (INR)
Bangalore 15,00,000 40,00,000
Mumbai 16,50,000 44,00,000
Delhi 15,75,000 42,00,000
Chennai 14,25,000 38,00,000
Gurgaon 15,00,000 40,00,000

Besides these costs, there are various factors that will affect the cost:
• Health complications after transplant
• Your hospital stays
• Location and infrastructure of the hospital
• After transplant medication
• Rehab and recovery

Asked Question’s

• What happens when bone marrow failed?

1. Fortis Hospital, Gurgaon
2. Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi
3. Medanta- The Medicity Hospital, Gurgaon
4. BLK Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi
5. Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon

• What is the age eligible for bone marrow transplant?

The person who meets the criteria is been considering for BMT.

• Will your DNA change after a bone marrow transplant?

Bone marrow is important for creating blood cells and every person’s marrow has 2 sets of DNA. So, it doesn’t transfer DNA and has any genetic changes to it. It is usually a foreign invader in the patient’s immune system. Thus, the patients remain on anti-rejection medication.