Treatment Overview
In a stem cell transplant, healthy stem cells are placed in your body through an I.V. to help your bone marrow start to work as it should.
The transplant can use stem cells that come from your own blood or bone marrow. Or they can come from another person. When they come from another person, it's called an allogeneic stem cell transplant.
The donor may be a relative. Or they may be a complete stranger. The important thing is that the donor's immune system markers are closely matched to yours. This is more likely when the donor is your brother or sister.
Most stem cells are in your bone marrow. You also have some that circulate from your marrow into your blood. Bone marrow stem cells turn into red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets to help your body stay healthy. If your bone marrow is damaged or destroyed, it can no longer make normal blood cells.
A stem cell transplant may be used to treat diseases that damage or destroy the bone marrow, such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, and aplastic anemia.
The allogeneic transplant process includes:
- Collecting stem cells from a donor. The new cells can come from the blood, bone marrow, or umbilical cord blood.
- Having chemotherapy (sometimes along with radiation) to destroy cancer cells or damaged stem cells.
- Transplanting the healthy stem cells.
- Waiting for the transplanted stem cells to produce healthy blood cells.
