Treatment for Aplastic Anemia
Once the diagnosis of Aplastic Anemia is done, patients have a variety of treatment options that they can opt to take to cure the disease. The treatment of Aplastic Anemia is dependent on how severe the case is. Severe cases could be dangerous hence the need for immediate treatment using the most effective treatment. Usually, once diagnosis of severe Aplastic Anemia is made, blood transfusion helps to contain the situation before a more suitable form of treatment can be decided on. There are various treatments that are available for the treatment of Aplastic Anemia in most modern hospitals with the most common ones being bone marrow transplant and immunosupressants. A more recent treatment known as the High-Dose Clyclophosphamide which uses chemotherapy to treat Aplastic Anemia is also available even though it is on clinical trial in most hospitals. Other forms of treatment are usually meant to contain the disease to prevent it from endangering the patient’s life. They include use of growth factors, bone marrow stimulants, antibiotics, anti-retrovirals and use of iron supplements.
Bone marrow transplant is the most commonly used type of treatment. The patient’s bone marrow is extracted and a matching donor’s bone marrow is then injected into the patient’s bones. The bone marrow may take around three to four weeks before it can start production of stem cells. Bone marrow therapy effectively solves severe cases of Aplastic Anemia if the patient’s body adapts well to the donated bone marrow. It however poses a challenge once the body reacts to the blood cells produced by donor’s bone marrow leading to serious effects. Finding a matching donor could also be challenging.
Immunosuppressive therapy is used where a disorder causes the immune system to attack blood cells which are produced by the bone marrow such that they become deficient. The treatment works by suppressing the immune system so that the attack on the blood cells is reduced. This type of treatment is normally used by older people who do not want to undergo chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants; patients who have reacted negatively to bone marrow transplants and those who cannot find a matching donor. The limitation of using this method of treatment is that it causes the reduction the normal body immunity leaving the patient at high risk of other diseases and infections.
High-Dose Cyclophosphamide uses chemotherapy to treat the occurrence of harmful lymphocytes that destroy blood cells produced by the bone marrow. The treatment is combined with a growth factor known as GCSF which helps to promote the development of blood cells by the bone marrow. This treatment eliminates the lymphocytes only leaving healthy stem cells which continue the production of the blood cells. High-Dose Cyclophosphamide is known to have a high relapse rate which is why patients have preferred to use it even though it is in clinical trial.