Aplastic Anemia: Treatment

What are the treatments for aplastic anemia?

The main goal of aplastic anemia treatment is to increase the number of healthy cells in your blood. When your blood counts go up:

• You are less likely to need blood from a donor (transfusion)
• Your quality of life gets better
• Your symptoms are not as bad

Depending on how severe your aplastic anemia is, your doctor will use supportive care to help you manage symptoms and may also treat you with either immunosuppressive therapy or a stem cell transplantation.

There are three categories of treatment for aplastic anemia

Supportive Care

Supportive care is a term used for treatments that help you mange the symptoms of aplastic anemia and is not a cure.  This approach includes the use of:

• Blood transfusions
• Iron chelation therapy to treat iron overload
• Growth factors
• Antibiotics

Immunosuppressive Drug Therapy

Immunosuppressive drug therapy lowers your body's immune response. This prevents your immune system from attacking your bone marrow, lets stem cells grow back, and raises blood counts. In acquired aplastic anemia, immunosuppressive therapy with anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) plus cyclosporine is the therapy of choice for older patients. It is also used for patients who do not have a matched stem cell donor. About 8 out of 10 patients have a positive response to this treatment.

Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation

Bone marrow transplantation, also called stem cell transplantation, involves the killing of your bone marrow stem cells with chemotherapy and radiation and then putting blood-forming stem cells from a healthy donor into your bloodstream. The stem cells travel to your bone marrow and begin making healthy blood cells. This raises blood counts.