Fast facts about Bone Marrow

Fast facts on bone marrow

Here are some key points about bone marrow. More detail and supporting information is in the main article.

• A bone marrow transplant can save the lives of people battling leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers.
• At birth, all bone marrow is red. As humans age, red marrow increasingly begins to convert to yellow marrow.
• In adults, around half of the bone marrow is red and half is yellow.
• 200 billion new blood cells are made by the bone marrow every day.
• Healthy bone marrow manufactures between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood, the amount of blood that fits on the head of a pin.
• Bone marrow contains mesenchymal and hematopoietic stem cells.
• Around 10,000 people in the US are diagnosed each year with diseases that require bone marrow transplants.
• 7 out of 10 people who require a bone marrow transplant do not have a matching donor in their family, and rely on the registry of bone marrow donors to find a match.
• The process for matching a patient with a donor involves comparing human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types in order to find a match.
• Several diseases, often incurable, pose a threat to bone marrow and prevent bone marrow from turning stem cells into essential cells.