Scientists have recently come upon a process that they believe may lead to a cure for sickle cell anemia, a disease that is extremely common in African Americans and causes chronic pain and shortens life expectancy.
The treatment in question is a bone marrow transplant that was previously reserved for children, the transplants pre-transplantation prep phase was considered too grueling for people who had sustained organ damage from the disease over the course of a lifetime. This marrow transplant is lauded by scientists because it lacks the heavy doses of radiation and chemotherapy that were too intense for adults and has been shown to only target the malformed blood cells the disease is named after.
Nine out of ten patients receiving the bone marrow transplant were considered cured of the disease and the discovery has brought hope to countless victims of the crippling illness.
Source
http://www.usnews.com/health/family-health/articles/2009/12/09/bone-marrow-transplants-may-cure-sickle-cell-in.html
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I have heard that bone marrow transplant is becoming successful and its success rates are increasing. Genes mismatch results in success of bone marrow transplants. Bone Marrow Transplantation is removal of the sickly part from a patient and replacing it with a normal complement from a donor.
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