Bone marrow suppression
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Bone marrow suppression is a serious side effect of chemotherapy and certain drugs affecting the immune system such as azathioprine. NSAIDS may also cause bone marrow suppression. The risk is especially high in chemotherapy for leukaemia.
The bone marrow is 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 infection as the body cannot produce leukocytes in response to invading bacteria and viruses, as well as anaemia due to a lack of red blood cells and 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 arthritis or 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 antibiotics at the first sign of infection.
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
