The parents of a child diagnosed with aplastic anemia tell the nurse that a bone marrow transplant (BMT)may be necessary.What should the nurse recognize as important when discussing this with the family?
A) BMT should be done at time of diagnosis.
B) Parents and siblings of child have a 25% chance of being a suitable donor.
C) Finding a suitable donor involves matching antigens from the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system.
D) If BMT fails, chemotherapy or radiotherapy must be continued.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The most successful BMTs come from suitable HLA-matched donors.The timing of a BMT depends on the disease process involved.It usually follows intensive high-dose chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.Usually parents only share approximately 50% of the genetic material with their children.A one-in-four chance exists that two siblings will have two identical haplotypes and will be identically matched at the HLA loci.Discussing the continuation of chemotherapy or radiotherapy is not appropriate when planning the BMT.That decision will be made later.

The Parents of a Child Diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia Tell