Our organ transplant centers, which are in Medicana International Ankara, Medicana Bahçelievler, Medicana Çamlıca and Medicana International Beylikdüzü, licensed by the Ministry of Health in Istanbul, serve our patients in need of organ transplantation with high-level medical facilities.
Kidney, Liver, Bone Marrow and Corneal Transplants are performed successfully in world standards. The Medicana Healthcare Group is among the major healthcare organizations that support organ donation and transport.
Medicana Bahçelievler, Medicana Çamlıca, Medicana International Istanbul and Medicana International Ankara hospitals are signing successful transplant operations with their expert staff.
What Is Leukemia?
Leukemia is a cancer of bloodcells. Leukemia occurs when cells in our body reproduce
abnormally, replace normal cells in bone marrow and invade the bone marrow
completely. Therefore, patients develop anemia. Decreased
white blood cell (defensive cells) count result in tendency to infections. According
to the cell type, Leukemia’s can be divided into two main groups;
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)
Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia (AML)
After The Diagnosis of Leukemia
Initial treatment modality is hospitalization and mean hospital stay is 1 month. Since leukemia cells invade the body, normal cells cannot survive in the body. Accordingly, healthy cells are supported by external supplements. Since chemotherapy is a necessity while healthy cells are transfused to the patient, chemotherapy will destruct both cancerous cells and healthy cells and therefore, it is a difficult period. A small piece of bone marrow is biopsied at the end of one month to examine whether cancerous cells have disappeared or not. It takes about 15 days for an unhealthy cell to become completely healthy. Since this period is very critical, the patient should be treated as if s/he is a baby. Antibiotherapy is started and a mask can be used to avoid the risk of infection. Infections can occur despite all measures taken. Infection is associated with a morbidity rate up to 80 to 90 percent.
How Is Bone Marrow Transplanted?
For patients under the age of 45 years, bone marrow transplant is preferred, if there is no response to salvage treatment. Stem cells found in the bone marrow play the primary role in production of cellular components of the blood. These cells are harvested using a special device and stored at the Apheresis unit until the patient is transfused the stem cell product.
Who can be a bone marrow donor?
Bone marrow can not only be collected from matched siblings or rarely other family members, but it can be also obtained from matched unrelated donors registered in a tissue bank. The other option is freezing and storing own bone marrow of the patient for a possible future use. Umbilical cord blood implies using the cord blood of the neonate sibling that is rich in main stem cells.
Postoperative Period of Bone Marrow Transplant
Stem cells that were previously harvested from the donor are transfused to the patient at the pre-scheduled transplant day. There should elapse thirty days after bone marrow product is given to the patient. In Day 30 of the bone marrow transplant, it is necessary to examine the portion of cells that survive and function in the bone marrow of the recipient. The patient is discharged if this rate is above 95%.
In this type of transplants, long-term follow-up is required due to predisposition for infectious diseases secondary to the effects of the drugs used. Patients are asked to present for follow-up visit twice a week. In the subsequent 5-year period, follow-up visits are scheduled at monthly intervals.
Success Rate In Bone Marrow Transplant
A success rate of 70% is achieved in bone marrow transplants. However, there is always a risk of recurrence. The chemotherapy received by the patient to manage the condition may provoke another cancer. This is the worst case scenario.
A success rate of 70% is achieved in bone marrow transplants. However, there is always a risk of recurrence. The chemotherapy received by the patient to manage the condition may provoke another cancer. This is the worst case scenario.
European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EMBT)
Medicana Bone Marrow Transplantation Center works ethically with a patient-oriented approach in the light of scientific data and renders healthcare services not only for Turkish patients but also for global patients. Having a bone marrow transplantation unit, our hospital is a member of “European Bone Marrow Transplantation Registry” (EBMTR).