Types of Blood and Marrow Transplant

We provide all types of bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell transplants. Transplanted cells renew your blood supply after chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy and re-establish a healthy blood supply.

You'll receive the transplant type most suitable for your specific diagnosis, stage of disease, overall health, current physical condition and age.

There are 2 primary types of blood and marrow transplant (BMT):

• Autologous: We collect your healthy stem cells and freeze them in liquid nitrogen until it's time for your transplant. Using your own cells greatly reduces the risk of complications.
  
  
• Allogeneic: Stem cells come from a donor whose tissue type matches yours. Potential donors are siblings, close relatives or matched unrelated donors. We are designated by the National Marrow Donor Program as a matched unrelated donor transplant center.

Allogeneic transplants increase the risk of complications. These include graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), where the donor's immune cells attack the recipient’s tissue. Medications can prevent and treat GVHD.

There are several subtypes of allogeneic BMTs:

• Syngeneic: Donor and recipient are identical twins with the same genes. The tissues match perfectly, resulting in fewer complications.
  
  
• Cord blood: This type of transplant uses umbilical or cord blood. It may not require a perfect tissue match.
  
  
• Nonmyeloablative/reduced intensity: We combine less-toxic chemotherapy treatment and stem cell transplant. This allows the donor's white blood cells to launch an immune response to destroy your cancer cells, called the graft-versus-tumor effect.
  
  
• Haploidentical transplant: You may receive blood stem cells from a related donor whose tissue half-matches yours. Benefits of haploidentical transplant include more available donors and shorter wait times. Transplants can be done in 2-3 weeks instead of several months.