What are Stem Cell Transplants?Bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell transplants are ways to treat blood cancers like leukemia, multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. They help restore the body’s ability to make blood cells after high-dose chemotherapy or radiation. As many as 50,000 new transplants are done each year.
Why Are Stem Cell Transplants Needed?The high-dose chemotherapy or radiation used to kill blood cancer cells also kills healthy bone marrow. Stem cell transplants help restore the bone marrow’s ability to produce blood cells. In some cases, therapy followed by stem cell replacement cures the cancer.
Transplants Often Plan BBlood cancer treatment usually starts with chemotherapy, either alone or with other drugs and treatments. Experts often disagree about which treatments to use. Stem cell transplants are expensive, risky, and usually recommended when chemotherapy fails. However, some cancer centers are trying stem cell transplants as a first treatment.