Pharmacological purging can damage normal as well as malignant cells, causing delayed engraftment of platelets and granulocytes and extending the period in the hospital during which patients are susceptible to infection and bleeding. Problems associated with pharmacological purging are diminishing as researchers learn the optimal level of chemicals to use in the purging procedure. The prognosis for long-term survival varies according to the disease being treated, the stage of the disease at which an autologous BMT was performed, the patient's age, prior treatment history, and any complications that may have developed during transplant. Nonetheless, the alternative is usually near-certain death. Each added day of life, therefore, is special.
Most patients agree that the potential rewards of an autologous BMT are well worth the effort.
I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in February 1989. It's hard to believe all I have gone through to fight breast cancer. I felt that chemotherapy would not be adequate to combat the spread of my disease. A dose friend had a BMT for metastatic breast cancer, as did the daughter-inlaw of my mother's friend. Both died after their transplants, but their disease was in a more advanced stage than mine when their BMTs were performed.