WHAT
IS THE BONE MARROW?
· The bone marrow is a "space" situated in the middle
of some of the many bones of the body.
· In this "space" there are a great variety of cells,
most of them blood cells, and among them the "hematopoietic stem
cell", which is the only cell capable of originating any and all
of the other blood cells (leukocytes, platelets and red blood cells).
WHAT
IS A BONE MARROW/STEM CELL TRANSPLANT?
· This type of transplant is used to treat many oncologic and some
non-oncologic diseases.
· It consists of the administration of hematopoietic stem cells
capable of "restarting" the production of blood, after the administration
usually of very high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.
· There are 2 types of clinically-relevant stem cell transplants
ALLOGENEIC and AUTOLOGOUS.
· Allogeneic transplant consists of the administration of cells
that are not from the patient. These cells usually, but not necessarily,
come from a sibling.
· In the autologous transplant, the cells come from the patient,
and are obtained before the patient receives the high dose chemotherapy
/ radiotherapy.
WHO
SHOULD GET A STEM CELL TRANSPLANT?
· Those patients with some disease that can be potentially be cured
or will get a significant improvement from this procedures, when compared
with "conventional" treatment.
· In some cases, such as chronic myelogenous leukemia, an allogeneic
stem cell transplant is the only curative treatment.
· In other cases the chances for cure increase significantly with
a stem cell transplant compared with conventional therapy.
· The convenience of performing a stem cell transplant is not only determined by the patient´s disease, but also by the stage of the disease, the previous treatments, age, the presence or absence of organ failure, among other criteria.
WHO
WILL TELL ME IF A STEM CELL TRANSPLANT IS APROPRIATE IN MY CASE?
· Usually your physician will advice you on the convenience of
a stem cell transplant in your case.
· Once your doctor has decided You are a candidate, he will refer
You to us for an evaluation.
· In some cases, and as a personal decision, some patients choose
to seek a consultation directly with the stem cell transplant specialists.
In this case it is very important that the patient bring ALL of his/her
medical records.
· Practically none.
· As a matter of fact most stem cell donors never get admitted into the hospital, they just go to the blood bank and donate cells via an apheresis machine, which will selectively remove these cells and return the rest of the blood components.
· Since stem cells are auto-regenerating, in a very short time the donor has exactly the same number of stem cells as before the donation. Donors can donate a number of times, usually without complications.
· Donating stem cell, by any method, does NOT increase the chance for developing any other disease.
WHY
GET A STEM CELL TRANSPLANT IN MONTERREY MEXICO?
For several different reasons:
· A very competent staff, the physicians are either US or Europe-trained,
have started stem cell programs in large public hospitals and have vast
experience in various different programs.
· Our hospital is as or better equipped than many hospitals in
the US (www.santaengracia.com).
· We are a 2 hour drive from the US border (Laredo, TX) and 4 hours
drive from San Antonio, TX.
· Both American Airlines (www.aa.com) and Continental Airlines
(www.continental.com) have flights to Monterrey.
· Our prices are between 5 and 7 times less than those charged
in the US.
· Although we do not have formal contacts with insurance companies,
it is possible that your US insurance could cover the procedure.
FOR
MORE DETAILS, PLEASE READ FURTHER ON THIS WEB SITE, EITHER ABOUT THE PROCEDURE
IT SELF OR ABOUT SPECIFIC DISEASES.
YOU CAN ALSO ASK US SPECIFIC QUESTIONS VIA OUR E-MAIL tmo@hsj.com.mx