An autologous stem cell transplant uses healthy cells harvested from your own body.
This treatment damages and kills your diseased bone marrow. We then replace it with the stem cells we harvested from you. Your bone marrow recovers and produces new, healthy cells.
Autologous Advantages
When you are your own donor, you benefit from:
- Little to no complications from rejection
- Not needing to find a compatible donor
- The ability to have the maximum tolerated dose of cancer treatment for your disease
Conditions Treated
An autologous stem cell transplant treats:
- Multiple myeloma
- Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Plasma cell disorders
The Autologous Stem Cell Transplant Procedure
The autologous stem cell transplant procedure involves 4 steps.
Step 1: Harvesting Stem Cell
First, we give you medicine that increases and speeds up the number of stem cells made by your bone marrow. These stem cells spill into your blood.
We collect or harvest these stem cells through apheresis. We take your blood. An apheresis machine filters stem cells from your blood. We then freeze and store these stem cells until we need to use them.
Step 2: High-Dose Treatment
You undergo high doses of chemotherapy or radiation to kill your cancer cells. This process also kills your bone marrow.
Step 3: Infusion
After treatment, you’ll get an infusion of your harvested stem cells. The stem cells will travel to your bone marrow. There, they’ll start making new blood cells.
Step 4: Monitoring
After infusion, you’ll stay under close observation. We’ll want to watch you until the new stem cells work. We’ll also be watching for side effects from the treatment.
Find out what to expect as you go through bone marrow transplant recovery.