What is the difference between stem cell transplants and bone marrow transplants?
In a bone marrow transplant, bone marrow is taken from the posterior hip of the donor and given to the patient after high-dose therapy. In a stem cell transplant, cells collected from the blood are used instead. The immature cells (stem cells) that normally reside in the bone marrow are made to circulate in the blood by giving chemotherapy, growth factors (such as G-CSF) or both. When circulating in the blood they are easy to collect by using an apheresis machine. Cells collected in this way are already primed by the growth factors and start growing in the patient sooner. It is also easier for the patient to donate stem cells this way than undergo an anesthetic and a bone marrow harvest. No one can agree on the name for these cells, the names used include: peripheral blood stem cells, (and because all blood is peripheral) blood stem cells, progenitor cells or just blood cells. Because the cells start in the bone marrow and end in the bone marrow they are really just a sub-type of bone
