Posted by bernardneal18
at 05:26 PM on June 16, 2009
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Aplastic Anemia being a rare disease has led to many deaths often thanks to lack of early diagnosis. However, if the symptoms of the disease are discovered sufficiently early, it is possible to either control or cure the illness absolutely. Just like every other disease, the seriousness of the condition determines the type of treatment to be undertaken. Severe Aplastic Anemia specifies that the patient be hospitalised for specialized treatment because it is potentially fatal. Different systems of treating Aplastic Anemia are available although the most typically known standard methods are blood transfusion, bone marrow transplant and Immunosuppressive care.
aplastic anemia symptoms
Blood transfusion for example does not cure the disease and multiple blood transfusions could be needed to give the desperately required blood cells the bone marrow is not able to provide. The use of a growth factor may however be considered to help the body produce more blood cells to reduce the number of transfusions. A bone marrow transplant will most likely require that the patient discovers a bone marrow donor, usually a close relative or a not related but matching donor. A likely risk in this kind of treatment is where the patient's system rejects the transplant that may lead to heavy issues. Immunosuppresants are used where the body immune mechanism is the one attacking cells produced in the bone marrow. This treatment acts by suppressing the immune mechanism. Examples of substances used as immunosuppressants are anti-thymocyte globulin and clysporine. The drawback of these drugs is they may weaken the patient's immune system and in case the patient stops use their conditions are probably going to reappear. Other methods used for containing the difficulty include the use of bone marrow stimulants and the use of anti-retrovirals and antibiotics.
Research on Aplastic Anemia is still ongoing to come up with better treatments for the illness. High-Dose Cyclophosphamide is among the most recent treatment for Aplastic Anemia in the market which is still being employed in clinical test. Cytoxan is also used to refer to Cyclophosphamide which is essentially a common name. The Cytoxan gets rid of the lymphocytes while leaving the healthy stem cells untouched. The bone marrow can then start manufacturing new healthy cells for the body at the normal rate.
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