What are the risks of bone marrow transplantation?
Bone marrow transplants are accompanied by serious and life-threatening risks. Furthermore, they are not always an absolute assurance of a cure for the underlying ailment; a disease may recur in the future. Approximately 30% of people receiving allogeneic transplants do not survive. Autologous transplants have a much better survival rate—nearly 90%—but are not appropriate for all types of ailments requiring a bone marrow transplant. Furthermore, they have a higher failure rate with certain diseases, specifically leukemia. In the short term, there is the danger of pneumonia or other infectious disease, excessive bleeding, or liver disorder caused by blocked blood vessels. The transplant may be rejected by the recipient’s immune system, or the donor bone marrow may launch an immune-mediated attack against the recipient’s tissues. This complication is called acute graft versus host disease, and it can be a life-threatening condition. Characteristic signs of the disease include fever, rash
