MYELOMA
A bone marrow transplant is a medical treatment that replaces your bone marrow with healthy cells. The replacement cells can either come from your own body or from a donor. A bone marrow transplant is also called a stem cell transplant or, more specifically, a hematopoietic stem cell transplant
Some common signs and symptoms include:
- Bone pain, especially in your spine or chest
- Nausea
- Constipation
- Loss of appetite
- Mental fogginess or confusion
- Fatigue
- Frequent infections
- Weight loss
- Weakness or numbness in your legs
- Excessive thirst
Treatments for myeloma
Standard treatment options include
Targeted therapy Targeted drug treatments focus on specific weaknesses present within cancer cells. By blocking these abnormalities, targeted drug treatments can cause cancer cells to die.
ImmunotherapyImmunotherapy uses your immune system to fight cancer. Your body's disease-fighting immune system may not attack your cancer because the cancer cells produce proteins that help them hide from the immune system cells. Immunotherapy works by interfering with that process.
Chemotherapy Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. The drugs kill fast-growing cells, including myeloma cells. High doses of chemotherapy drugs are used before a bone marrow transplant
Corticosteroids Corticosteroid medications regulate the immune system to control inflammation in the body. They are also active against myeloma cells.
Bone marrow transplant A bone marrow transplant, also known as a stem cell transplant, is a procedure to replace your diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow.
Before a bone marrow transplant, blood-forming stem cells are collected from your blood. You then receive high doses of chemotherapy to destroy your diseased bone marrow. Then your stem cells are infused into your body, where they travel to your bones and begin rebuilding your bone marrow.
Radiation therapy Radiation therapy uses high-powered energy beams from sources such as X-rays and protons to kill cancer cells. It may be used to quickly shrink myeloma cells in a specific area — for instance, when a collection of abnormal plasma cells form a tumor (plasmacytoma) that's causing pain or destroying a bone.