Treatment
Treating immune-mediated aplastic anemia involves suppression of the immune system, an effect achieved by daily medicine intake, or, in more severe cases, a bone marrow transplant, a potential cure. The transplanted bone marrow replaces the failing bone marrow cells with new ones from a matching donor. The multipotent stem cells in the bone marrow reconstitute all three blood cell lines, giving the patient a new immune system, red blood cells, and platelets. However, besides the risk of graft failure, there is also a risk that the newly created white blood cells may attack the rest of the body ("graft-versus-host disease").
Medical therapy of aplastic anemia often includes a short course of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) or antilymphocyte globulin (ALG) and several months of treatment with a cyclosporin to modulate the immune system. Mild chemotherapy with agents such as cyclophosphamide and vincristine may also be effective. Antibody therapy, such as ATG, targets T-cells, which are believed to attack the bone marrow. Steroids are generally ineffective, though are often used to combat serum sickness caused by ATG use.
One prospective study involving cyclophosphamide was terminated early due to a high incidence of mortality, due to severe infections as a result of prolonged neutropenia.
In the past, before the above treatments became available, patients with low leukocyte counts were often confined to a sterile room or bubble (to reduce risk of infections), as in the case of Ted DeVita.
Read more about this topic: Aplastic Anemia
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—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)