A bone marrow transplant is a procedure to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells.
Bone marrow is the soft, fatty tissue inside your bones. Stem cells are immature cells in the bone marrow that give rise to all of your blood cells.
There are three kinds of bone marrow transplants:
Before the transplant, chemotherapy, radiation, or both may be given. This may be done in two ways:
A stem cell transplant is done after chemotherapy and radiation is complete. The stem cells are delivered into your bloodstream through a tube called a central venous catheter. The process is similar to getting a blood transfusion. The stem cells travel through the blood into the bone marrow. Usually, no surgery is needed.
Donor stem cells can be collected in two ways:
A bone marrow transplant replaces bone marrow that is either not working properly or has been destroyed (ablated) by chemotherapy or radiation.
Your doctor may recommend a bone marrow transplant if you have:
A bone marrow transplant may cause the following symptoms:
Possible complications of a bone marrow transplant depend on many things, including:
Complications can include:
Your health care provider will ask you about your medical history and do a physical exam. You will have many tests before your treatment begins.
Before your transplant, you will have one or two tubes, called catheters, inserted into a blood vessel in your neck or arms. This tube allows you to receive treatments, fluids, and sometimes, nutrition.
Your doctor or nurse should discuss the emotional stress of having a bone marrow transplant. You may want to meet with a mental health counselor. It is important to talk to your family and children to help them understand what to expect.
You will need to make plans to help you prepare for the procedure and handle tasks after your transplant. Things to consider include:
You may need to find housing for yourself or your family near the hospital.
A bone marrow transplant is usually done in a hospital or medical center that specializes in such treatment. Most of the time, you will stay in a special bone marrow transplant unit in the center to limit your chance of getting an infection.
Depending on the treatment being used and where it is being done, all or part of an autologous or allogeneic transplant may be done as an outpatient. This means you do not have to stay in the hospital or medical center.
How long you stay in the hospital depends on how much chemotherapy or radiation you received, the type of transplant, and your medical center's procedures. While you are in the hospital, you will be isolated because of the increased risk of infection. The health care team will closely monitor your blood count and vital signs.
While you are in the hospital you may:
How well you do after transplant depends on:
A bone marrow transplant may completely or partially cure your illness. If the transplant is a success, you can go back to most of your normal activities as soon as you feel well enough. Usually it takes up to 1 year to recover fully.
Complications or failure of the bone marrow transplant can lead to death.
Transplant - bone marrow; Stem cell transplant; Hematopoietic stem cell transplant; Reduced intensity, nonmyeloablative transplant; Mini transplant; Allogenic bone marrow transplant; Autologous bone marrow transplant; Umbilical cord blood transplant
Bishop MR, Pavletic SZ. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In: Abeloff MD, Armitage JO, Niederhuber JE, Kastan MB, McKena WG, eds. Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2008:chap 32.
Vose JM, Pavletic SZ. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2011:chap 181.
Updated by: Yi-Bin Chen, MD, Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M. Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc.
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