Treatment for Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GVHD)

Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a serious, sometimes life-threatening complication of hematopoietic cell transplantation (often called a bone marrow or stem cell transplant). The disease can occur after allogeneic transplantation. Depending on the source of hematopoietic (hematopoietic) cells, two types of transplantation are distinguished – allogeneic and autologous.

In allogeneic transplantation, cells are taken from another person. In autologous transplantation, cells are taken from the patient himself. GVHD occurs when the immune cells of a donor (graft) perceive normal cells of the recipient’s (host’s) body as foreign and attack them. The symptoms of the immune response depending on which part of the body is damaged by the donor cells.

According to the timing of the onset, they distinguish between acute GVHD, which appears in the first 100 days after transplantation, and chronic, which develops at a later date. Severe forms of acute GVHD are life-threatening; chronic GVHD relatively rarely leads to the death of a patient, but worsens the quality of life and can lead to disability.

Disease Treatment 

The leading Israeli clinic Tel Aviv Medical Clinic employs true professionals who have been engaged in the detection and treatment of blood diseases for more than 10 years. Our doctors have a wealth of practical experience and knowledge. The wards of the department are equipped with everything necessary for a comfortable stay of patients. The clinic has established rates at the state level. Thus, you get quality services for which you pay less. Our medical staff will help you contact charities if needed.

Treatment is aimed at suppressing the overactive donor immune response and retraining the immune system so that it does not attack normal host tissues. Patients are treated differently depending on the severity of their symptoms. Often, the clinic’s specialists use the following methods of therapy:

• Medications – Corticosteroids such as methylprednisolone, dexamethasone, and prednisone. Other drugs are immunosuppressive drugs (such as those listed above in the prevention section), as well as immunotherapy and targeted therapies.
• Phototherapy with narrow-band ultraviolet radiation (ultraviolet B) and extracorporeal photophoresis (ECP) is used to treat GVHD. EKF involves taking blood and dividing it into erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets. Leukocytes are then treated with drugs and irradiated with ultraviolet light. Then these cells, along with the rest, are returned to the body. Treated cells can stimulate the immune system to fight GVHD.