Bone marrow

Bone marrow is a spongy, fatty tissue in stem cells, located inside a few large bones such as the skull, sternum, ribs, pelvis, and femur bones. Bone marrow is cannot be found in other smaller bones. The stem cells transform itself into white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets, these three cells are essential for immunity and circulation which are functions of the blood. Absence or shortage of bone marrow causes many illnesses such as Anemia, leukemia, and other lymphoma cancers. Inside the bone marrow, immature stems cells present, along with extra iron. While they are undifferentiated, the stem cells hold its place until unhealthy, weakened, or damaged cells appear to be replaced. A stem cell can transform itself into a platelet, a white blood cell such as a T-cell, or a red blood cell.

Anatomy of Bone marrow
Bone marrow is a precisely organized organ made of haemopoietic cells, fat cells and vascular structures. Also, bone marrow is surrounded by bony tissue. Within the marrow, haemopoietic progenitor cells at numerous stages of development continually maintain the number of blood cells in our body.

Diseases involved with the Bone marrow
Problems on one's bone marrow function can lead to various major health issues. Diseases/disorders on the bone marrow can be majorly divided in four-representing diseases/disorders:


 * Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells that can influence any kind of white blood cell types. This disease begins with one abnormal cell starting to continuously reproduce itself. As result, leukemic reproduced cells do not function normally. They become no more fighting infections and, as they build up, they inhibit the production of other white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. Patients with leukemia may have frequent infections, fatigue, bleeding, bruising, anemia, night sweats, and bone and joint pain. The spleen, which filters the blood and gets rid of old cells, may become enlarged, as may the liver and lymph nodes.


 * Myeloproliferative disorders(MPD) are a group of diseases focused in the bone marrow and characterized by the overproduction of a immature stage of a marrow cell. When a particular type of blood cell is needed, undifferentiated stem cells in the marrow begin to change, becoming the immature tremendous forms of whatever cell is in short supply. These processes mature to become each of the five types of white blood cells, to form red blood cells, or platelets. The bone marrow usually includes a mixture of cells in various stages of maturity since only fully mature cells normally leave the bone marrow. In MPD conditions, excessive production of a cell's red blood cells leads to an skyrocketed number of that type of cell and an increase or decrease in the number of other blood cells, which may been inhibited. This process brings the problems such as blood cell overproduction, shortages, and dysfunction throughout the body.


 * Myelodysplastic Syndrome(MDS) is a group of diseases featured by malfunctioning bone marrow cell production. Frequently with MDS, not enough normal blood cells are being made. This leads to symptoms of anemia, infection, and excessive bleeding and bruising. MDS syndromes are classified by how the cells in the bone marrow and blood smear look under the microscope and include: several types of anemia that don’t respond to treatment (refractory), myelodysplastic syndrome associated with chromosome abnormality, and unclassified MDS. Over time, MDS usually get developed to acute myeloid leukemia.


 * Aplastic anemia is relevant with a loss of red blood cells due to a defect in the stem cell producing them or due to a damagew to the bone marrow environment. Aplastic anemias are also caused by exposure to chemicals such as benzene, radiation, or certain drugs. A few are due to rare genetic abnormalities such as Fanconi's anemia or related with an acute viral illness such as human parvovirus. In addition, the cause is usually not known for about half of the cases.

Here are symptoms of disorder on bone marrow that may cause a serious health problem:
 * Fever
 * Weakness, fatigue, and pallor due to anemia
 * Weight loss
 * Swollen lymph nodes, liver, spleen, kidneys, and testicles
 * Bleeding and bruising
 * Night sweats
 * Bone and joint pain
 * Frequent infections
 * Headaches, vomiting, confusion, and seizures

Consequences and phenomenons that can be caused by bone marrow disease or disorder:
 * the overproduction of one type of cell; this crowds out and decreases the production of the other cell types.
 * production of abnormal cells that don't mature or function properly.
 * cell compression caused by an overgrowth of the supporting fibrous tissue network, resulting in abnormally shaped cells and decreased numbers of cells.
 * one cell line that becomes predominant because the cells don't die at a normal rate.
 * the decreased production of cells, or the rapid loss of cells because they are fragile.
 * insufficient iron available to create normal red blood cells.
 * Diseases that may spread to the bone marrow, affecting cell production and maturation.



Transplatation of Bone marrow
Bone marrow transplantation(BMT) is a comparably new medical procedure being used to treat diseases related with bone marrow malfunction. Since its first successful use in 1968, BMTs have been used to treat patients with leukemia, aplastic anemia, lymphomas such as Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma, immune deficiency disorders and some solid tumors such as breast and ovarian cancer. In 1991, more than 7,500 people took BMTs nationwide. Even though BMTs now save thousands of people each year, still, 70 percent of the patients who need to get transplanted are failing to gat a BMT, because of short amount of donors. There is a 35 percent chance to a patient will have a sibling whose bone marrow is a perfect match. If the patient has no matched sibling, the patient will have to wait until a proper donor to come up from various international donation organization.

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Additional Information

 * Bone Marrow transplantation and its Types. Kranthikumar, Pharmainfo.net, 06/26/2010.
 * Bone Marrow Disorders American Association for Clinical Chemistry, labtestsonline, April 29, 2008
 * Bone Marrow Transplant COLUMBIA PRESBYTERIAN MEDICAL CENTER, By BMT Newsletter
 * What is bone marrow? S. Mithra, WiseGeek, 08 March 2011
 * Transplant video
 * Bone Marrow on Wikipedia