Medullary Aplasia – Causes, Symptoms and Treatments
Medullary Aplasia – Causes, Symptoms and Treatments that many are unaware of. In addition, Medullary Aplasia is a disease characterized by an alteration in the functioning of the bone marrow .
Medullary Aplasia is a rare disease whose origin is a bone marrow dysfunction that makes it unable to produce blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets) and, thus, progressively replace circulating cells destined to die naturally. .
Medullary Aplasia is therefore responsible for the deficit of one or more types of blood cells. The consequences of Medullary Aplasia are different depending on the type of cell affected.
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Causes of Medullary Aplasia: The causes of Medullary Aplasia are not always known, but it can be related to:
- Radiations.
- Cytotoxic drugs.
- Benzene derivatives.
- Insecticides.
- infections.
- Use of drugs such as chloramphenicol, for example and autoimmune diseases.
Symptoms of Medullary Aplasia: The symptoms and clinical manifestations caused by Medullary Aplasia usually vary according to the degree of the problem. Improper production of blood cells mainly leads to below symptoms:
Bone marrow is responsible for producing blood components. These are red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. The main function of red blood cells is to carry oxygen.
Reddish in color, they have iron inside, causing anemia when in small amounts. White blood cells, on the other hand, are the body’s defenders, being the producers of antibodies. When they are in small amounts, the body is more vulnerable to various infections, platelets act in blood clotting, a fact that explains the third symptom of Medullary Aplasia .
Treatment for Medullary Aplasia: Treatment for Medullary Aplasia can be done with immunosuppressive drugs, but when their side effects are very exacerbated, the doctor may indicate blood transfusions quite often, often becoming dependent.
In the most severe cases of Medullary Aplasia , there may be a need for a bone marrow transplant, which consists of removing a small portion of bone marrow from a donor who may be close relatives, usually a brother or sister. When there is no compatible family member, another alternative is to search the Donor Registry , which, despite still being organized, exists in Curitiba and São Paulo and has an international database, which increases the probability of finding someone compatible.
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Patients with Medullary Aplasia , while they do not find a compatible donor in the family or in the existing bases, should maintain the treatment of Medullary Aplasia with immunosuppressive drugs and, if necessary, perform blood transfusions, and wait to see if there will be a good response.