In oncological perspective, the traditional treatment of leukemia involves chemotherapeutic agents that directly annihilate the presence of cancer cells within the blood stream and red marrow (Sullivan, 2004 p. 12). Due to the extensive cellular damage being directed by this type of treatment, bone marrow begins to deteriorate especially with the aggressive chemotherapeutic intoxication.
Furthermore, due to the high-doses of chemotherapy, the half-life of the medication in the body also increases, which consequently progresses the destruction of cellular level (Buchsel and Whedon, 1995 p. 305). However, according to Nath (2005), the advent of introducing bone marrow transplant, derived from stem-cell technology, has increased the cure rate of leukemia cases from approximately 20 to 30% (p. 445).
Radiation and chemotherapy treatment options induce significant bodily side effects combined with the natural manifestations of leukemia, specifically (1) pyramidal syndrome (drug-disease induced complex side effect), (2) severe fatigue, (3) emetic symptoms, (4) hematopenia, (5) severe hair loss, (6) hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity (if not treated, these can lead to hepatomegaly, kidney damage, etc. ), (7) infertility, etc. According to Nath (2005), most leukemia cases that are treated with radiation-based treatment increase the severity of signs and symptoms due to the cell-damaging effect of radiation (p.
445). However, the introduction of bone marrow transplant (stem-cell therapy) has provided a safer alternative in treating leukemia due to the dose reductions of chemotherapeutic agents and immediate natural replacement of blood components. However, due to the scarcity of available donors, professionally equipped surgical oncologists, and costly medical equipments, health care cost of this therapy begins from $30,000 depending on multi-contributing factors (e. g. severity of the patient’s case, number of hospital stays, medications, etc.
). According to Dipiro (2005), 11 to 37% of bone marrow transplant cost is due to the pharmaceutical requisites of the procedure, especially the chemotherapeutic agents (p. 106). Considering the high costs of this procedure and an annual demand of 20,000 (Nath, 2005 p. 445) cases in United States alone, such medical alternative can provide higher hospital profits in the country, specially considering the 450 bone marrow transplant centers available nationwide (Dipiro, 2005 p. 106).