What are Bone Marrow and Stem Cells?

Bone marrow is a sponge-like tissue found inside bones. Within bone marrow, stem cells grow and develop into the three main types of blood cells:

Stem cells also grow many other cell types of the immune system.

At IU Health, we offer many types of bone marrow transplant, including:

For this type of transplant, we use your own stem cells. We collect the stem cells and then place them back into your body.

We use this method to treat blood-related cancers like multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphomas and Hodgkin disease, as well as certain germ-cell cancers.

CAR T-cell therapy is an emerging form of cancer immunotherapy. This therapy involves supercharging a patients T cells, a subtype of white blood cell, to recognize and attack cancer cells.

IU Health is the first healthcare system in Indiana to offer CAR T-cell therapy to treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

For this type of transplant, the stem cells of another person are used. The donor can be a relative or a nonrelative whose blood cells are a close match.

The stem cells can come from peripheral (circulating) blood, bone marrow or umbilical cord blood (the blood in the cord connecting a fetus to a placenta).

This method is used to treat blood-related cancers like leukemias and some lymphomas or multiple myeloma. It is also used to treat bone marrow failure disorders like myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and aplastic anemia.

If you have an acute leukemia or lymphoma, IU Health Medical Center conducts haploidentical (half-matched) stem cell transplantation. This procedure also greatly expands the potential donor pool, making more patients eligible for the transplant.

Read more from the original source:
Bone Marrow & Blood Stem Cell Transplant | IU Health

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