What+are+the+treatments+for+Thallesemia?


 * Content**s:
 * 1) Intro to Thallasemia
 * 2) Types
 * 3) Causes
 * 4) Symptoms
 * 5) Effects
 * 6) **__Treatments__**
 * 7) Personal Stories
 * 8) Links

=__Treatments for Thallasemia__=


 * Blood Transfusion**

Blood transfusion is the most common treatment for thallasemia. In this treatment, red blood cells are transfused into the patients, supplying them with healthy red blood cells containing normal hemoglobin, allowing sufficient oxygen to be circulated throughout the body. Patients with thallasemia major receive blood transfusions every three to four weeks. This makes sure that body tissues receive sufficient oxygen so that patients may grow normally.

However, frequent blood transfusions can result in a buildup of iron in the body, which is damaging to organs such as the liver and heart. A drug known as an iron chelator helps remove iron from the body which can prevent or slow down problems caused by excessive iron in the body. The drug is administered to patients daily using a mechanical pump. //Image from:// [|**//www.cooleysanemia.org/ sections.php?sec=1//**]

Click [|HERE] to watch a video on blood transfusion in Canada for people with blood disorders like Thallasemia


 * Bone-Marrow Transplantation**

Bone-marrow transplants are the only way to completely cure a patient with thallasemia. In bone-marrow transplantation, a thallasemic's bone marrow, which is unable to make a sufficient amount of red blood cells, is replaced with a normal bone marrow.

Although bone-marrow transplantation sounds simple, it is in fact possible for very few patients, because most do not have a suitable bone marrow donor. Even with a compatible donor, bone-marrow transplantation is still very dangerous, and could result in death.

Aside from blood transfusion and bone-marrow transplantation, the two main types of treatment for thallasemia, patients with thallasemia sometimes undergo splenectomy, surgery to take out the spleen, which is an organ located near the stomach in humans, that filters blood, stores red blood cells, destroys old red blood cells, and produces white blood cells.
 * Additional Treatment for Thallasemia**

In some circumstances, the spleen begins to destroy too many red blood cells, and blood transfusions become less and less effective, therefore making it necessary to remove the spleen.

Sites used: http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/681_1229.asp http://www.thalassemia.com.pk/index.php?p=treatment

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