Hello Everyone,
I was diagnosed with AML 4th Feb 2022 I have had 3 chemo treatments in 2022 which basically reduced my white blood cell count but did not put me in remission. I had 3 months at home after these treatments and it was decided to put me on Azarcitidine which I took for only one time (14 days) during November & December 2022. My marrow levels in January indicated I needed more chemo which was administered from Feb & March 2023 this was the FLA-IDA I am still in hospital, (week 11) waiting on my Neutrophils to improve.
My treatment plan is to have SCT but I have one question - what criteria determines if you require to have full body irradiation prior to stem cell transplant, and what dosage is normal?
Hi Accessman and welcome to this corner of the Community although I am always sorry to see folks joining us. I am Mike and I help out around our various Blood Cancer groups.
I don’t have Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) but I was diagnosed way back in 1999 with a rare, incurable but treatable type of Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma reaching Stage 4a in late 2013 so although my Blood Cancer ‘type’ is different I do appreciate the journey rather well……. and more so as I have had 2 Allo (donor) Stem Cell Transplants (SCT).
I had Total Lymphoid Irradiation (TLI) as part of the conditioning to take my immune system down before I got my brothers Stem Cells.
My understanding is that TLI is slightly different from TBI so can’t say anything about the process or dosage, although I had 10 full body zaps along with a week of IV anti-thymocyte globulin.
There are many different types of Conditioning and each is specifically selected to suit everyone’s situation. My first Allo SCT did not work so had a completely different conditioning for my second Allo SCT.
We actually have a dedicated Stem cell transplant support group where people from all the different blood cancers support each other through the SCT process. Do join the group, have a look at the various posts and you can put up your own post to introduce yourself.
