Bone Marrow Transplantation

A Bone Marrow Transplantation is a procedure to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells. Bone marrow is the soft, fatty tissue inside the bones. Stem cells are immature cells in the bone marrow that give rise to all of the blood cells.

There are three kinds of bone marrow transplants:

• Autologous bone marrow transplant: The term auto means self. Stem cells are removed from the patient before receiving high-dose chemotherapy or radiation treatment. The stem cells are stored in a freezer (cryopreservation). After high-dose chemotherapy or radiation treatments, the stems cells are put back in the body to make (regenerate) normal blood cells. This is called a rescue transplant.
• Allogenic bone marrow transplant: The term allo means other. Stem cells are removed from another person, called a donor. Most times, the donor’s genes must at least partly match the patient genes. Special blood tests are done to see if a donor is a good match for the patient. A brother or sister (sibling) is most likely to be a good match. Sometimes parents, children, and other relatives are good matches.
• Umbilical cord blood transplant: This is a type of allogenic transplant. Stem cells are removed from a newborn baby’s umbilical cord right after birth. The stem cells are frozen and stored until they are needed for a transplant. Umbilical cord blood cells are very immature so there is less of a need for matching. But blood counts take longer to recover.