Discover how a bone marrow transplant may benefit your unique condition.
Call (405) 271-4022Bone marrow transplant (BMT) is a therapy for patients with certain cancers or other diseases. Our body has a special material called bone marrow inside our bones. This spongy material makes all types of blood cells, including young blood cells called stem cells. Sometimes, the bone marrow gets sick or does not work properly. That’s when your doctors may recommend a bone marrow transplantation to help. If you and your doctor determine that your treatment plan should include BMT, this specialized care is available at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City.
At Stephenson Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer
Center, you’ll work with nationally known physicians in Oklahoma’s
only cellular therapy
and comprehensive stem cell program accredited by the
Foundation for the Accreditation
of Cellular Therapy (FACTS) to serve people of all ages. You benefit from the many years of
experience held by the cancer centers stem cell transplant specialists
who perform more than 100 stem cell transplants each year and have completed
thousands of transplants since the program began in 1982.
Stem cells are special cells that can become different types of cells based on what your body needs. They are found in various parts of your body, including your bone marrow. Bone marrow has hematopoietic stem cells that make all the different kinds of blood cells. These young stem cells can turn into:
If your bone marrow can’t produce new blood cells, it can lead to serious health problems. Bone marrow transplants can be an effective treatment for these conditions.
The first step in a stem cell transplant is to collect healthy bone marrow, either from the patient or a donor. This is done under general anesthesia using a large needle to extract bone marrow from the pelvis. The collected bone marrow is then frozen and stored.
When it’s time for the transplant, the bone marrow is thawed and injected into the patient, similar to a blood transfusion. The healthy stem cells will travel to the bone marrow and start producing blood cells. There are two types of stem cell transplants:
In an autologous stem cell or bone marrow transplant, healthy cells are harvested from the bone marrow of a patient. The harvested bone marrow is frozen and stored until it is ready for use. In the meantime, the patient undergoes a 'conditioning regimen' to prepare their body for the transplant. In this regimen, they may receive high dose chemotherapy r radiation therapy. These treatments destroy cancer cells, but they also kill bone marrow cells. This is where the transplant comes in. The patient is injected with their own stored blood stem cells. These cells 'take' to the body and restore its ability to produce blood cells.
Autologous transplantation is most often used to treat diseases like lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Because autologous transplants use the cells of a patient, they have little to no risk of rejection or graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). This makes it safer than allogeneic transplants.
An allogeneic bone marrow or stem cell transplant uses donor stem cells to treat blood cancers that affect the bone marrow, like leukemia. The cell transplants come from a donor whose tissue most closely matches that of the patient. The donor cells are injected after the patient has undergone chemotherapy. But beyond restoring the blood-producing ability of the body, allogeneic stem cell transplantation can help fight cancer directly. The donated cells generate a new immune response, meaning they find and kill cancer cells, sometimes better than the original immune cells of the patient. This is called the graft-versus-cancer effect, and it can help fight cancer. Unfortunately, allogeneic stem cells come with an increased risk of rejection or GVHD.
As a National Marrow Donor Program-designated transplant and donor collection center, Stephenson Cancer Center sources stem cells for your treatment options could include autologous (your own) and allogeneic (donor) transplants from peripheral blood, bone marrow or umbilical cord blood from related and unrelated donors.
Many types of cancer respond to treatment with transplant approaches such as blood, bone marrow, cellular therapy or stem cell therapy. During a bone marrow transplant, doctors take healthy stem cells from a person’s bone marrow or sometimes from another person. They filter these cells and then give them back to the person who needs them. The goal is to replace the sick bone marrow with healthy bone marrow so that the body can make healthy blood cells again.
Cellular therapies may offer an excellent choice for your treatment because they allow you to receive additional doses of chemotherapy or radiation without putting too much strain on your body, giving you another way to treat the type of cancer you face, including leukemia or lymphoma.
At Stephenson Cancer Center, you’ll work with a wide array of services and health professionals related to cellular transplant, including:
Discover how a bone marrow transplant may benefit your unique condition.
Call (405) 271-4022Learn more about chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) for adults at Stephenson Cancer Center and explore cancer treatment for children and blood disorders treatment at the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital – Jimmy Everest Center (JEC).
When you work with the cellular therapy specialists at Stephenson Cancer Center, you can ask about eligibility to participate in a wide range of clinical trials and take advantage of results as part of our membership in the National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN), along with innovative research producing the latest cancer treatment options. To continually bring you proven, safe, effective treatments and the best care available, experts at Stephenson Cancer Center help develop the latest trusted transplant and cellular therapies by collaborating on research and clinical trials with many accredited and certified regional, national and international organizations, including:
As part of your cancer journey at Stephenson Cancer Center, you can rely on your care team members to connect you with medical professionals and information to help you better understand your diagnosis and treatment options. You benefit from the significant resources and extensive expertise available for your care, as well as the ongoing support of team members dedicated to guiding you through the challenges of your situation such as:
Choosing Stephenson Cancer Center means you benefit from expertise you won’t find at other cancer centers in the state or region. You’ll work with experienced physicians who hold significant training in malignant hematology, transplant and cellular therapy. You also benefit from an onsite expert hematopathologist for quick evaluation of test results, specially trained nurses devoted to your care and a wide range of health professionals from multiple disciplines who apply their knowledge to your individual condition and dedicated to your care.
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