Introduction
Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is the treatment of choice for many
hematologic malignancies, congenital immunodeficiency disorders, and
aplastic anemia [1]. Several features of human bone marrow make the
transplant procedure feasible. The first is the noteworthy regenerative
capacity of marrow. The second feature of marrow, which makes
transplantation practical, is that after intravenous infusion, marrow
cells have the capacity to home to the marrow space and their ability to
survive cryopreservation with little, if any, damage. With techniques of
freezing and thawing, cryopreserved autologous marrow is virtually as
effective as fresh marrow in providing protection after otherwise lethal
total body irradiation (TBR) [2, 3].
There are 3 types of BMT types according to the stem cell source to be
used. It is the first syngeneic transplantation from the best possible
donor identical twin. Second, allogeneic marrow transplantation can be
performed using HLA-identical related donors, haploidentical related
donors or HLA-compatible unrelated donors. The third autologous
transplantation involves removing the patient’s own marrow after
high-dose chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy, usually freezing and
re-infusing this marrow [2]. However, the success of BMT is limited
by recurrent disease and infection because of the immunodeficiency
status seen after BMT [4].
As part of transplantation, the patient is exposed to a severe
immunosuppressive period and hospital isolation of varying length,
depending on the type and treatment of the disease before and after BMT.
During this period, these patients encounter many additional clinical
problems. Some of these additional clinical problems exposed are
otorhinolaryngological (ORL) problems. In these patients isolated before
and after BMT, some ORL problems seen more than the normal population
should be managed more carefully.
The aim of this study is to show the most common ORL problems seen
during the hospital isolation process after BTM of 451 patients who
underwent BMT in our hospital and the treatments applied to them. In
addition, to draw attention to the role of the otolaryngologist as a
member of the transplantation team, especially in terms of contributing
to the hospital isolation process of these patients.