The gut mucosal barrier in bone marrow transplantation

The damage to the small bowel mucosal barrier was studied prospectively in 26 patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation. The conditioning regimens resulted in the small bowel mucosa becoming more permeable for up to 4 weeks. Acute graft-versus-host disease also compromised barrier function. There was no difference in gut damage between conditioning with chemotherapy only and chemoradiotherapy, but damage was greater in patients 30 years of age and above.