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Article: FINDING A MATCH IS NOT ENOUGH; THE GAMBLE OF BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTS
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 24, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The 7-year-old boy lay on his belly in an anesthetic sleep, the
white flood of operating room lights illuminating a square of skin on
his lower back.
The surgeon, Wyndham Wilson of the National Cancer Institute,
approached the boy with two long steel needles with gold-colored
handles curved like ornate walking sticks. With a scalpel, he nicked
the skin on the right side of the boy's back, deftly sliding a needle
into the wound, which bubbled with blood.
Probing, the surgeon settled the steel rod against the iliac bone
that forms the pelvis and then pressed hard while slowly rotating the
needle. It crunched through the calcified surface, penetrating to
the marrow-the wellspring of the ...