How risky is a BMT procedure?
Despite medical advances, a BMT is still a risky procedure with many possible complications. High doses of chemotherapy and sometimes radiotherapy are needed to suppress a child’s immune system in order for the new bone marrow to be accepted. The child is prone to infection that can be difficult to treat. The chemotherapy and radiotherapy can also cause organ damage both in the short and long-term. The graft may fail if the new bone marrow cells are rejected by the recipient. Or the graft may fight its new host, so-called graft versus host disease. The risk of graft failure and severe graft versus host disease is greater when there is a poor match between the tissue types of the donor and the recipient.
