Glossary of Medical Terms

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Betnovate: A topical steroid cream used to treat a variety of skin conditions including Graft Vs Host Disease (GVHD see below)

Blood Counts: in a healthy human male the normal number of each type of blood cells is as follows

Haemoglobin (Hb) 13 to 18 grams per 100ml of blood
White blood cells 4 to 11 x 10^9/l (4,000 to 11,000 per cubic millimeter of blood)
Neutrophils 2.0 to 7.5 x 10^9/l (2,000 to 7,500 per cubic millimeter of blood)
Lymphocytes 4 to 11 x 10^9/l (4,000 to 11,000 per cubic millimeter of blood)
Platelets (thrombocytes) 150 to 440 x 10^9/l (150,000 to 440,000 per cubic millimeter of blood)

Ciclosporin: An anti-rejection drug that supresses my immune system so the white blood cells from the donor stem cells don't start attacking the tissues of my body. ( See GVHD )

Clean Diet: A diet that avoids foods that could have bacteria and other pathogens in them. Things like no salad vegetables, fruit that is not peeled, shell fish, take away foods.

Flucloxacillin: An antibiotic used to treat skin based bacterial infections.

Folliculitis: An infection of the hair follicles making them appear like acne spots.

GCSF: Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, a drug that stimulates the stem cells in the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells to boost the immune system.

GVHD: Graft Versus Host Disease, this is when the white blood cells produced by the donor stem cells attack the rest of my body's cells because it sees them as foreign.

Haemoglobin: The substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen to the cells of the body. A lack of red blood cells causes low haemoglobin (anaemia) which in turn causes fatigue and breathlessness

Itriconazole: An anti-fungal treatment

Mantle Cell Lymphoma: A type of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which is a cancer of the white blood cells.

Neutrophils
: A type of white blood cells that fight off bacterial and fungal infection.

NPA: NasoPharyngeal Aspirate - In other words block one nostril, put the other one over the sample phial and blow. Also known as snot in a pot.

Prednisolone: A steroid used in the treatment of Graft Versus Host Disease

Stem Cell Transplant
: The process of taking stem cells produced by the donor's bone marrow and implanting them into someone to give them a new immune system. This used to be done by bone marrow transplantion but is now done by just infusing stem cells collected from the donor, a bit like a blood transfusion.

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