Qualifying Tests: Intro

Not everyone who needs a stem-cell or bone-marrow transplant is eligible to get one.  Your oncologist needs to recommend you to a transplant team, which may operate out of a center that is some distance from where you live.  If the logistics work out and you receive preliminary acceptance, your oncologist will give you a list of tests to be scheduled.  These tests generally fall into two categories; general health, and status as relates to your auto-immune or blood-related disease.


An example of a general health issue might be if you currently have pneumonia or some other reversible respiratory problem.  Since the high-dosage radiation or chemotherapy places quite a bit of strain on your lungs, they will not allow you to have a transplant until the condition is resolved.  If you’re suffering from a chronic disorder – COPD for example – you might not be eligible for the program at all.  Lastly they will need to ensure that there are no infectious issues currently affecting your health.



The second category has to do with your health status as it relates specifically to your specific disease.  For example, if you’ve had multiple chemotherapy treatments for cancer with restaging after each attempt, your team may determine that a transplant is unlikely to be successful.  It helped that I had had a good response to my early chemo treatments, had not yet had them done too many times, and was currently in remission.


Once the results for these tests are available, the transplant team will review them to determine if you’re qualified for the procedure.  My tests included general lab work, a PET scan, colonoscopy, mammogram and PAP smear.



The mammogram and PAP smear are obviously tests only a woman needs to take.  Except for a PSA blood test (Prostate Specific Allogen) there are no male-specific tests in the qualifying process.  And since this test is included in the lab work, no separate section on it is included.



In addition to these basic tests, I was also asked to schedule a dental visit and have any work done that was needed.  It’s important that you don’t have any mouth issues – open sores or cavities, etc. – when your immune system is about to be compromised, as this is a prime source of infection.  The high dosage radiation and/or chemotherapy can also cause damage to your teeth, and having this work done first can provide some resistance to that damage.



The rest of the Qualifying Tests page will be broken down into each of the preliminary medical tests listed above, along with a set of two PAGs for each, one of which will always be blank for your own documentation.  Several tests are rerun throughout the course of the transplant timeframe.  When the test is the same as an instance already documented (a PET Scan, for example), I may simply refer you back to the section where it was originally placed, but there will always be at least one PAG included – the blank one for your use.  If there are differences I may either summarize them, or if they great enough, repeat the section entirely, adjusting for those differences.