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Blood and Marrow Transplant Program Gift of


Blood and Marrow Transplant Program Innovates for 25 Years, Saves Lives Daily


Life


A strange lump under her ribs coupled with exhaustion led to Trudy Krejcarek’s diagnosis ofmyelofibrosis, a bone marrow disease that required a bone marrow transplant to save her life.


The BMT Program at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin is a leader in blood and marrow transplantation, treating diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, testicular cancer and other serious conditions. Survival rates for patients who receive transplants from unrelated donors at Froedtert & The Medical College are among the best in the United States.


T


rudy Krejcarek of West Bend, Wis., thought feeling tired quickly was just part of getting older. But the 60-year-old gift shop owner also had a lump under her ribs that was concerning enough to send her to her primary care doctor. In March 2010, she learned


her fatigue and the lump were related issues. She was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a disease that causes bone marrow to develop scars and eventually stop working. Bone marrow is the spongy tissue found inside bones that contains stem cells that produce the body’s blood cells. The “lump” was Trudy’s spleen, enlarged to four times its normal size.


“When the bone marrow no longer produces blood cells, the spleen


tries to make blood, but that is not its primary function, and it enlarges,” explained Parameswaran Hari, MD, MRCP, MS, Medical College of Wisconsin medical oncologist and director of the Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin. “Trudy’s only option for a cure was to receive a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.”


A bone marrow transplant (more precisely called a hematopoietic stem


n parameswaran hari, md, mrcp, ms


cell transplant) replaces unhealthy cells that can no longer produce blood with healthy cells. In addition to treating myelofibrosis, blood and marrow


transplantation is performed to treat people with a range of blood and lymph node cancers, including leukemia, lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic


system), multiple myeloma (a cancer that begins in plasma cells, a type of white blood cell) and certain other cancers. It is also used to treat aplastic anemia (when the body stops producing enough new blood cells), other bone marrow disorders and immune deficiency states. Physicians in the BMT Program work hand-in-hand with other Medical College of Wisconsin cancer specialists who have in-depth knowledge of blood and lymph disease processes and therapies.


10 Froedtert Today September 2011 froedtert.com


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