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.