How does the patient receive the bone marrow or PBSCs during the transplant?
After being treated with high-dose anticancer drugs and/or radiation, the patient receives the bone marrow or PBSCs through a central venous catheter, a flexible tube that is placed in a large vein in the neck or chest area. This part of the transplant is called the “rescue process.” Return to top of page. • Are any special measures taken when the cancer patient is also the donor (autologous transplant)? The bone marrow used for autologous transplantation must be relatively free of cancer cells. The harvested marrow is often treated before transplantation with anticancer drugs in a process known as “purging” to get rid of cancer cells. This minimizes the chance of cancer coming back due to transplanting bone marrow that contains undetected cancer cells. Because purging may damage some healthy marrow cells, more marrow is obtained from the patient before the transplant so that enough marrow will remain after purging has been completed. Return to top of page. • What happens after the bon
