Bone marrow suppression

Bone marrow suppression is a serious side effect of chemotherapyand certain drugs affecting the immune system such as azathioprine. The risk is especially high in chemotherapy for leukaemia.

The bone marrowis where blood cells are formed, and this process is slowed or stopped when bone marrow suppression is caused. This can rapidly lead to life-threatening infectionas the body cannot produce leukocytesin response to invading bacteriaand viruses, as well as anaemia due to a lack of red blood cellsand spontaneous severe bleeding due to deficiency of platelets.

Bone marrow suppression due to azathioprine can be treated by changing to another medication such as mycophenolate mofetil(for organ transplants) or other disease-modifying drugs in rheumatoid arthritisor Crohn's disease. Bone marrow suppression due to anti-cancer chemotherapy is much harder to treat and often involves hospital admission, strict infection control, and aggressive use of intravenous antibioticsat the first sign of infection.

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone+marrow+suppression Wikipedia article Bone marrow suppression.