Early detection helps manage chronic graft-vs-host disease complication
Friday, March 7, 2014 - 09:01
in Health & Medicine
A simple questionnaire that rates breathing difficulties on a scale of 0 to 3 predicts survival in chronic graft-vs.-host disease, according to a study. GVHD is an immune reaction that occurs in some patients who have received bone marrow or blood cell transplants using donor cells. In GVHD, the transplanted cells -- which will become the patient's new immune system -- attack the patient's own cells as they would a foreign object or infection. GVHD can be either acute or chronic; severe, uncontrolled cases can be fatal.