Bone Marrow Donation

Thousands of people's life, who are threatened by blood diseases and cancer, can be saved by offering to donate bone marrow. Bone marrow donation is mostly done as a surgical prodecure and oftern requires anesthesia.

CJ: Scott G

Mon, Nov 16, 2009 15:01:18 IST

Views:
0
Comments:
0

Rate:

0.0 / 0 votes

Health News :

IF YOU consider US alone, around 6000 people need a bone marrow transplant on any given day. Thousands of people's life, who are threatened by blood diseases and cancer, can be saved by offering to donate bone marrow. Bone marrow donation is mostly done as a surgical prodecure and oftern requires anesthesia. However, with the donation one can save many lives which is an incredible gift for others.

What is Bone Marrow?

Bone Marrow is a spongy material found inside some major bones like the hipbone. The stem cells in the bone marrow are the building blocks of the blood. The stem cells produce the red blood cells, which carry oxygen as well as the while cells, which fight infection and the platelets which stops bleeding.

Bone marrow syndrome is also reffered to as hematopoietic syndrome. The survival of patients with this syndrome decreases with the increasing dose, where the full syndrome occurs with a dose between 0.7 and 10 Gy though mild symptoms may occur as low as 0.3 Gy or 30 rads.

To become a bone marrow donor, one needs to undergo a physical examination and also needs to find out if the donation would pose any risks to either the donor or the patient.

A person can qualify for donation the bone marrow if he is between 18 and 60 years of age in US, where as in UK the age limit is between 18 to 49.

A time commitment is a must for bone marrow donation. If one is contacted as a match and then changes his mind about donating, it could be devastating and life threatening for the patient. There is a time commitment involved for taking the blood and tissue tests to ensure that the bone marrow transplant is successful.

There are many online sites for registering for the bone marrow donation. One can regsiter online or can even obtain a list of addresses and go and register in person also. In order to register, one must have the tissue type examined and if you get selected as the best donor for a patient, you are asked to attend an information session to know in detail about the donation process, risks and side effects.

The most importat thing is that one needs to keep the contact information updated, so can be contacted immediately.

Print | Post comment