Why are bone marrow/stem cell transplants needed?
There are three situations in which patients may require a stem cell transplant. Two of these relate to failure of the bone marrow to produce blood cells while the third offers an opportunity to cure an otherwise incurable inherited disease e.g. sickle cell anaemia disease in children. Bone marrow/stem cell transplants are predominantly used as part of the treatment for certain types of malignant diseases, mainly leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma which involve the bone marrow. Of almost 18,500 stem cell transplants carried out in Europe in 1998, 13,750 (75%) were for leukaemia or one of the related blood cancers. Over 95% of all donor transplants were performed for patients with leukaemia, lymphoma, or aplastic anaemia.
