Mesothelioma patients who undergo chemotherapeutic treatments for their disease can suffer from a medical condition known as myelosuppression, which occurs as a serious side-effect of a wide variety of cancer-fighting drugs. Cytotoxic (antineoplastic) drugs work damaging or destroying fast-dividing cancer cells; as a side effect, they can also impair the bone marrow’s ability to produce blood cells and blood cell fragments such as platelets.
A reddish substance, bone marrow is critical to the body’s ability to produce red blood cells to transport oxygen to all parts of the body; a low red blood cell count can lead to anemia – a weakening of the body that is commonly seen in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. A less common manifestation of myelosuppression is thrombocytopenia – low platelet counts that result in serious blood clotting problems. This disorder is occurs in approximately 10 percent of cancer chemotherapy recipients.
The most dangerous and debilitating form of myelosuppression results from the bone marrow’s ability to produce sufficient numbers of white blood cells. The white cell called a neutrophil is typically most damaged or destroyed by the administration of cytotoxic drugs. Low neutrophil counts result in the medical disorder known as neutropenia, a suppression of the body’s immune system. Neutropenia renders the body vulnerable to a host of infections and opportunistic diseases that, in severe cases of immunosuppression, can lead to death.
Treatments for Myelosuppression
If chemotherapies result in severe damage to the bone marrow, the supervising doctor may choose to halt the treatments until the marrow has ample time to recover. Cancer patients who are receiving chemotherapies must be closely monitored for symptoms of neutropenia – symptoms that will typically include a fever and other signs of infection. When neutropenia is present, patients may receive intravenous administrations of antibiotics over a period of several days.
Cancer patients whose chemotherapy has caused thrombocytopenia (low platelet counts) can receive blood transfusions to alleviate the condition, though, such relief is typically short-lived and additional transfusions are almost always required. Another form of treatment for myelosuppression is the intravenous administration of growth factors, which are chemicals that occur naturally in the body and stimulate bone marrow production of blood cells. Several growth factors are now being manufactured as drugs including erythropoietin, sargramostim, filgrastim, interleukin 11, and others.
