#Autologous stem cell transplant how to#

Unless you live near a transplant center, you may need to travel from home for your treatment. The National Marrow Donor Program® maintains a list of transplant centers in the United States that can help you find a transplant center. When you need an allogeneic stem cell transplant, you will need to go to a hospital that has a specialized transplant center. What to expect when receiving a stem cell transplant Where you go for a stem cell transplant To learn about groups that may be able to provide financial help, go to the National Cancer Institute database, Organizations that Offer Support Services and search 'financial assistance.' Or call toll-free 1-800-4-CANCER (1-80) for information about groups that may be able to help. Talking with the business office where you go for treatment may help you understand all the costs involved. Talk with your health plan about which services it will pay for.

Most insurance plans cover some of the costs of transplants for certain types of cancer. Stem cells transplants are complicated procedures that are very expensive. Your doctor may also try to prevent it by giving you drugs to suppress your immune system. The closer your donor’s blood-forming stem cells match yours, the less likely you are to have graft-versus-host disease. Graft-versus-host disease can be treated with steroids or other drugs that suppress your immune system. It can occur a few weeks after the transplant or much later. This problem can cause damage to your skin, liver, intestines, and many other organs. Graft-versus-host disease can occur when white blood cells from your donor (the graft) recognize cells in your body (the host) as foreign and attack them. If you have an allogeneic transplant, you might develop a serious problem called graft-versus-host disease.

#Autologous stem cell transplant how to#

For more information about side effects and how to manage them, see the section on side effects. Talk with your doctor or nurse about other side effects that you might have and how serious they might be. The high doses of cancer treatment that you have before a stem cell transplant can cause problems such as bleeding and an increased risk of infection. Stem cell transplants can cause side effects To find a study that may be an option for you, see Find a Clinical Trial. Stem cell transplants for other types of cancer are being studied in clinical trials, which are research studies involving people. They may also be used for neuroblastoma and multiple myeloma. Stem cell transplants are most often used to help people with leukemia and lymphoma. This effect improves the success of the treatments. Graft-versus-tumor occurs when white blood cells from your donor (the graft) attack any cancer cells that remain in your body (the tumor) after high-dose treatments. This happens because of an effect called graft-versus-tumor that can occur after allogeneic transplants. However, in multiple myeloma and some types of leukemia, the stem cell transplant may work against cancer directly. Instead, they help you recover your body's ability to produce stem cells after treatment with very high doses of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or both. Stem cell transplants do not usually work against cancer directly. How stem cell transplants work against cancer To learn more about how blood-forming stem cells are matched, see Blood-Forming Stem Cell Transplants. To reduce possible side effects and improve the chances that an allogeneic transplant will work, the donor’s blood-forming stem cells must match yours in certain ways. syngeneic, which means the stem cells come from your identical twin, if you have one.

The donor may be a blood relative but can also be someone who is not related. allogeneic, which means the stem cells come from someone else.

autologous, which means the stem cells come from you, the patient.The blood-forming stem cells that are used in transplants can come from the bone marrow, bloodstream, or umbilical cord. Once they enter your bloodstream, the stem cells travel to the bone marrow, where they take the place of the cells that were destroyed by treatment. In a stem cell transplant, you receive healthy blood-forming stem cells through a needle in your vein.