Bone marrow failure means the blood forming function of your bone marrow fails to produce enough blood cells. The failure is caused by a disorder of your blood making stems cells that frequently causes excessive bleeding and bruise easily symptoms.
Bone marrow failure can involve not enough of one type of blood cell or possibly all of them. The types of blood cells and their primary actions are:
- red cells ~ carry oxygen
- white cells ~ fight infection
- platelets ~ form blood clots to stop bleeding
And their failure can lead to anemia (low red blood cell count), neutropenia (low white blood cell count) and/or thrombocytopenia (low platelet count).
Bone marrow failure is a rare health condition that can be inherited or acquired. Examples of the types of inherited bone marrow failure syndromes are:
- Fanconi Anemia
- Pearson Syndrome
- Dyskeratosis Congenita
- Diamond-Blackfan Anemia
- Severe Congenital Neutropenia
- Thrombocytopenia Absent Radii
- Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome
- Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
Inherited bone marrow failures often occur with other birth defects and causes a significantly higher risk for developing leukemia and other cancers.
Acquired bone marrow failures are caused by some other health condition, or in some cases no known cause is identified. Aplastic anemia is the typical cause of acquired bone marrow failure. However, these other causes can instigate the failure:
- weak immune system
- bacteria, virus infections
- autoimmune disease ~ lupus
- high dose ~ radiation, chemotherapy
- certain drugs ~ analgesics, antibiotics
- toxin exposure ~ heavy metals, benzene
- viral hepatitis, Epstein-Barr, cytomegalovirus, HIV infectious diseases
Symptoms of bone marrow failure vary because they’ll largely depend on which type of blood cell is affected. Yet, excessive bleeding and bruise easily are prevalent. Other potential symptoms you may experience are:
- fever
- pallor
- fatigue
- cellulitis
- dyspnea
- petechiae
- hematuria
- weakness
- nose bleeds
- mouth ulcers
- bloody stools
- bleeding gums
- tooth decay, loss
- digestive problems
- excessive hair loss
- premature gray hair
- excessive infections
- throbbing headaches
- nail loss, deformed nails
- greasy, foul smelling stools
- poor growth, shorter stature
- bleeding that’s difficult to stop
Again, the signs of bone marrow failure highly depend on which blood cells are most affected and to what degree.
Myelodysplastic syndromes cause very similar symptoms, i.e. excessive bleeding, bruise easily, etc., as acquired bone marrow failure. And neutropenia puts you at a risk of serious infections, including sepsis and pneumonia.
Treatment options for bone marrow failure range from drug therapy to a bone marrow transplant. Partly contingent on the type and what caused your bone marrow failure, your treatment might encompass:
- androgens
- erythropoietin
- corticosteroids
- blood transfusion
- immunosuppressants
- bone marrow transplant
- hematopoietic growth factors
- oxygen for any breathing difficulty
- prophylactic antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals
A bone marrow transplant is the only treatment that provides a cure for bone marrow failure. Yet, it’s a very complex form of treatment and not everyone is a good candidate for it.
