Transplanting The Patient’s Own Stem Cells
If you have a solid cancer, such as breast cancer or lung cancer, a bone marrow or stem cell transplant may be included as part of your treatment.
If you have aggressive chemotherapy or radiation for your cancer, your bone marrow may be severely damaged or destroyed. By harvesting and storing your stem cells before such aggressive treatment, you will give yourself the option to transplant your own healthy stem cells, helping to regenerate new bone marrow and create a healthy blood supply.
With an autologous stem cell transplant there is no risk of your body fighting the new cells or developing graft versus host disease, although there will still be a period of risk of infection while your transplanted cells are engrafting.
Harvesting Autologous Stem Cells
There are two ways of harvesting stem cells for an autologous stem cell transplant, leukapheresis and bone marrow harvesting. The harvesting process for an autologous transplant is the same as those for an allogeneic transplant.
To learn more about the range of conditions that can be treated using a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, and the range of transplant types available, please feel free to contact us and one of our bone marrow transplant specialists will call you for a free, no-obligation consultation.