Advantages to Bone Marrow Transplant in Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer, of any type, leads to life altering health decisions that many women are not well equipped to make. One decision that has grown in medical popularity is the suggestions that bone marrow transplant should be done as part of the breast cancer treatment. If you are unsure about a bone marrow transplant, here is what you need to know about the advantages.

While medical science is not clear about the proven benefits of a bone marrow transplant with breast cancer treatment, many progressive oncologists will suggest the treatment as a way to promote immune system health. This is especially true among oncologists who are treating women with inflammatory breast cancer. Much like the treatment of osteogenic sarcoma, medical science is promoting health for specific types of cancer.

The underlying theory in bone marrow transplant, as part of breast cancer treatment, lies in the belief that removing bone marrow, and freezing it, will provide a breast cancer survivor with her own stem cells needed to promote her immune system health after chemotherapy is complete. By removing bone marrow, inflammatory breast cancer patients can undergo very aggressive chemotherapy treatment and still feel assured that their immune system will be at its strongest possible recovery after chemotherapy. When re-implanting a woman's own bone marrow, after chemotherapy is complete, there is an optimal outcome in immune system response and recovery of health.

While many health insurance companies, at one time, declined bone marrow transplants as part of breast cancer treatment, most plans will now cover the procedure without regard to your type of breast cancer. With lawsuit potentials, the cost of covering bone marrow transplant, despite its questionable outcomes, has been absorbed by health insurance plans. If you want to pursue this type of treatment, another key advantage, therefore, is the ability to get coverage from your health insurance plan - an advantage that was, at one time, not afforded to women.

When considering treatment options for your breast cancer, be sure to consider how you will recover from chemotherapy using your own stem cells and immune system response. With bone marrow transplants, before you undergo chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatment, you may have the greatest opportunity to recover from immune system suppression.

Sources: Bone Marrow Transplants: A Book of Basics for Patients, by Susan Stewart