Bone marrow is the deep, interior portion of your bone.
Diseases that affect bone marrow include leukemia,polycythemia vera, and aplastic anemia.
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What Does Bone Marrow Do?
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Your bone marrow helps provide structural support and stability to your bones.
Its active in forming your skeleton and blood cells.
Where Is Bone Marrow Located
Your bone marrow is located throughout your skeleton.
You have more bone marrow in the larger, longer bones, such as your hip bones.
What Is Bone Marrow Made Of?
What Does Bone Marrow Look Like?
Bone marrow is the spongy cellular material within the bone cavities.
It is rich in blood vessels but is not typically examined using imaging tests.
Instead, the cells are collected with a bone marrow aspiration or a more invasivebone marrow biopsyprocedure.
The cells and sample content can be examined with a microscope.
Types
The two types of bone marrow are classified by their function and appearance.
The symptoms of bone marrow disease are often nonspecific, meaning they could be due to many other conditions.
These symptoms include fatigue, bleeding, or swelling.
Your healthcare provider will order a blood test to determine the cause of your symptoms.
Blood tests can assess the number, size, shape, and color of various types of blood cells.
These signs can indirectly reflect how well your bone marrow is working.
These tests can directly evaluate your bone marrow more than a blood test.
Each bone marrow disorder has its treatment protocol.
Some types of bone marrow cancer are treated with medication that can destroy the cancer cells.
A bone marrow transplant can help replace cancer cells in the bone marrow with healthy cells.
Close relatives may be suitable matches.
You also need blood tests to ensure that you have healthy bone marrow that would benefit the recipient.
You will be given general anesthesia.
While necessary to treat cancer, these therapies are harmful to bone marrow.
Your providers may recommend against such therapies to prevent more harm to your bone marrow.
Summary
Your bone marrow is a spongy material located in the cavities of your bones.
Your bone marrow is a highly active part of your body.
Bone marrow disease can include cancer or a deficiency of blood cells.
Often, bone marrow disease can be treated with medication or a bone marrow transplant.
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Lucas D.Structural organization of the bone marrow and its role in hematopoiesis.Curr Opin Hematol.
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