What is stem cell/bone marrow transplant?
Stem cell and/or bone marrow transplant (terms are often interchangeable) is a medical procedure that is used to treat people with certain types of cancer. Stem cells are very young blood cells that are formed in the bone marrow. Stem cells are important because all the different kinds of blood cells found in the body are produced from them. Chemotherapy and radiation therapies are cancer treatments that may be given in high doses to increase their effectiveness against certain types of cancer. High-dose therapy can damage or destroy the person’s bone marrow so they can no longer make new blood cells. This problem can be overcome by collecting a person’s own (autologous) stem cells before the high-dose therapy, then storing them, so they can be given back to the person after therapy. The stem cells that were damaged by the treatment will be replaced by these healthy stem cells. The purpose for stem cell/bone marrow transplant is to make it possible for patients to receive high doses of
