Neostar
This three-ponged semi-permanent catheter has infusion ports and will provide an EXIT for mainstream blood (filled with stem cells) and an ENTRANCE for that same blood, minus the “harvested” stem cells. It can also be used to give IV fluids, medications, blood transfusions, and your my nurse my draw blood for test directly from this catheter. All of this can occur at the same time because of the multiple tubes.
G-CSF
G-CSF (granulocyte-colony stimulating factor) is an haematopoietic growth factor. It stimulates the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells. Growth factors are special proteins which are produced naturally in the body. They can also be made as a drug.
One of the main side effects of chemotherapy drugs is a reduction in the number of white blood cells. This makes your body less able to fight infection. There is a risk that you could develop a serious infection, which might have to be treated in hospital. If your number of blood cells (your blood count) is low when your next dose of chemotherapy is due, the chemotherapy may have to be postponed, or the dose lowered.
G-CSF can be given to people in this situation to stimulate the bone marrow to produce new white cells more quickly after chemotherapy. This can shorten the period during which you are at risk of developing a serious infection. G-CSF is not needed with all types of chemotherapy treatment, as the white blood cell count can often recover on its own.
G-CSF may sometimes be used before high-dose chemotherapy to make the bone marrow produce more stem cells. These extra stem cells can then be collected and given back to you after high-dose chemotherapy treatment. The stem cells then go back into the bone marrow and produce blood cells.
- Neurontin
- Mozobil
CD34 Count
CD34 cells or stem cells must be circulatin in the blood for the clinic to be able to collect them by apheresis (stem cell collection). When my CB34 counts reaches 10 or higher collection can occur.
Stem Cell Collection
Collection will begin around 8 a.m. and lasts approximately three to four hours. My blood will be withdrawn through the catheter and passed through flexible tubing to a machine called an aspheresis machine which separates out the stem celss and returns the rest of the blood to me. The stem cells are then cryopreserved (frozen at a very low temperature) until the day of the transplant.
Chemotherapy
High-dose chemotherapy
Treatment with high-dose chemotherapy destroys cancer cells in your bone marrow but it also destroys your healthy stem cells (early blood cells found in the bone marrow). To help you make new blood cells, your own or a donor’s stem cells are collected before your high-dose chemotherapy and given back to you after it. The stem cells find their way to the bone marrow where they start to make new blood cells.
The drugs that are used
BEAM is named after the initials of the chemotherapy drugs used. These are:
Transplant or Infusion of Stem Cells
The infusion day is consider a new “birthday” for me. It is a sign of hope for better things to come.
The stem cells will be given to me through a drip. This is a bit like having a blood transfusion. It will be 2–4 weeks before the cells find their way through the bloodstream into the bone marrow and start to make new blood cellsu. I will be in hospital until the number of blood cells in my blood stream has gone back to a safe level.
While my level of healthy blood cells is low, I will need to have antibiotics. This is because I will have very little resistance to infection. I may be given injections of growth factors (G-CSF) to help my bone marrow to make new blood cells more quickly. I will also need to have blood and platelet transfusions.
