生命的礼物--骨髓移植
文章来源: 文章作者: 发布时间:2007-04-21 08:02 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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A Gift of Life

 

Bone marrow1 transplants can save patients suffering from diseases that were once a death sentence. But a shortage of donors3 has left thousands waiting for treatment.

生命的礼物

 

骨髓移植能挽救不治之症患者的生命,但是由于缺乏捐髓者,成千上万的患者只能翘首以待

Every year, 2,000 American lives are saved by the selflessness of others. These are the bone marrow donors who give the gift of life to patients fighting deadly diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, and aplastic anemia4. That's the good news.

每年,骨髓捐赠者的无私奉献使2000名美国人死里逃生,他们将生命的礼物献给了那些与白血病、淋巴瘤和再生障碍性贫血等绝症斗争的患者。这是令人振奋的好消息。

The bad news is that thousands more die each year because not enough people have signed on to the registries that would help the ill find a suitable match for a transplant.

但是坏消息是,由于登记自愿捐赠骨髓的人数还不够多,不能使所有病人都能得到与自己相匹配的骨髓做移植。为此,每年仍有数千位患者在痛苦的等待中死去。

Bone marrow or stem-cell transplants are usually a last resort, intended for those whose illnesses have not responded to traditional treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation. How do they work? We all store a special type of cell in our bone marrow called stem cells. These primitive5 cells give rise to the three types of blood cells: red, white and platelets. Everyone's stem cells have certain genetic6 characteristics or markers that make them unique from others. Despite this uniqueness, there are some shared characteristics between people. This is important, because a patient's immune system will reject blood or organs received from someone else if they do not share sufficient similarities.

当传统的治疗如化学疗法或放射疗法不能奏效时,骨髓或干细胞移植通常是这类病人最后的救命之招。它们是如何起作用的呢?人类在自己的骨髓中储存了一种叫作干细胞的特殊类型的细胞。这些原始细胞能衍生出三种不同的血细胞,即红细胞、白细胞和血小板。每个人的干细胞都有特定的遗传特征或标记,使其与众不同。尽管干细胞有这种独特性,但人们的干细胞还是具有一些共性。该共性尤其重要,因为如果不充分具备这种相似性,病人的免疫系统将会排斥移入体内的血液或器官。

Family members, especially siblings7, are always the first to be considered as donors, because there's a greater chance that the genetic markers on their cells will have enough in common to prevent rejection8 after trans? plantation9. In many cases, however, a familial match can't be found and then the search begins for an unrelat? bed donor2. These donors typi? cally come from a pool of people who have already signed up on a donor registry in the event that their cells match a needy10 recipient11.

为防止出现移植后的排异现象,家庭成员,特别是兄弟姐妹,是骨髓移植的首选捐赠者,因为他们细胞中的遗传标记相同的概率较高。然而,在多数情况下,在家庭成员中很难找到匹配的骨髓,这时只有寻找与患者无亲缘关系的捐赠者,这些捐髓者通常来自于骨髓库,该库由签约自愿者组成,他们随时准备捐髓给与自己细胞相配的患者。

Once the lab has verified a match between donor and re?cipient, the next phase starts. The patient is given radiation or chemotherapy to kill the unhealthy cells. Healthy cells are harvested from the donor - either extracted from the pelvic bones or taken from the arm in a way that is similar to having blood drawn12 - and prepared in a laboratory. Once they're ready, they're given to the patient through a vein13 - the same way as one would receive a blood transfusion14. Once these transplanted donor cells get settled within the patient's bone marrow, they make the healthy red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets necessary to support life.

捐赠者与受赠患者的骨髓经鉴定相匹配时,就进行下一步,即通过放疗或化疗杀死病人的病变细胞,再用类似于抽血的方法从捐赠者骨盆中或手臂上提取健康的细胞,送到实验室培养,然后再像输血一样,通过静脉注入病人体内。这些被移入的细胞一旦进入患者的骨髓被吸收后,就可制造出生命必需的健康的红细胞、白细胞和血小板。

One of the major problems currently faced by transplant centers is that while bone-marrow transplants can cure more than 70 different diseases, there aren't enough donors on the registry to treat the more than 3,000 patients awaiting transplants. The National Marrow Donor Program, the largest registry in the country, has approximately 4.8 million adult volunteer donors, but that isn't nearly enough for the thousands who need transplants.

尽管骨髓移植能治疗70多种疾病,但许多移植中心面临的主要问题之一是相对于3000多位等待移植的患者,却没有足够的注册捐赠者。美国最大的骨髓捐赠组织---全美骨髓捐赠者计划---已登记在册了近480万名成人志愿捐髓者,但这仍不能满足数千名需要移植的病人。

Why isn't a pool of more than 4 million donors isn't enough to cover 3,000 needy patients? Here's the reason: in the vast majority of cases, finding a suitable match isn't easy. Because we are unique individuals with a variety of ancestral backgrounds and integration15 patterns, finding someone similar to us is a major task. In the end, it comes down to a numbers game-the more potential donors listed on the registry, the greater a chance of finding a match, especially for those with unusual genetic characteristics.

为什么四百多万的捐髓者还不能满足3000位病人的需要?这是因为在大多数情况下,要找到适合自己的骨髓是十分不易的。因为我们每个人都具有不同的遗传背景和综合类型,找到与自己相似的人真是大海捞针。最终,骨髓捐赠便成了数字游戏,登记在册的捐赠者越多,发现匹配者的可能性就越大,对那些有特殊遗传特征的病人来说尤其如此。



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 marrow M2myE     
n.骨髓;精华;活力
参考例句:
  • It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了,他感到寒冷刺骨。
  • He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。
2 donor dstxI     
n.捐献者;赠送人;(组织、器官等的)供体
参考例句:
  • In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下,接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
  • The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。
3 donors 89b49c2bd44d6d6906d17dca7315044b     
n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 );献血者;捐血者;器官捐献者
参考例句:
  • Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去,请给我们发电子邮件。
  • About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 anemia joGy3     
n.贫血,贫血症
参考例句:
  • The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。
  • I was put on iron tablets for my anemia.我曾因贫血吃补铁药片。
5 primitive vSwz0     
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
参考例句:
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
6 genetic PgIxp     
adj.遗传的,遗传学的
参考例句:
  • It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
  • Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
7 siblings 709961e45d6808c7c9131573b3a8874b     
n.兄弟,姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分
8 rejection FVpxp     
n.拒绝,被拒,抛弃,被弃
参考例句:
  • He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
  • The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。
9 plantation oOWxz     
n.种植园,大农场
参考例句:
  • His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
  • The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。
10 needy wG7xh     
adj.贫穷的,贫困的,生活艰苦的
参考例句:
  • Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷,但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
  • They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。
11 recipient QA8zF     
a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器
参考例句:
  • Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
  • Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。
12 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
13 vein fi9w0     
n.血管,静脉;叶脉,纹理;情绪;vt.使成脉络
参考例句:
  • The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
  • The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。
14 transfusion wnbwQ     
n.输血,输液
参考例句:
  • She soon came to her senses after a blood transfusion.输血后不久她就苏醒了。
  • The doctor kept him alive by a blood transfusion.医生靠输血使他仍然活着。
15 integration G5Pxk     
n.一体化,联合,结合
参考例句:
  • We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
  • This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。
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