What is a stem cell transplant?
Stem cell transplants are procedures to replace cancerous, abnormal or damaged stem cells with healthy ones. This procedure may be called a bone marrow transplant. Most transplants use peripheral blood stem cells, which are immature stem cells in your bloodstream, but some use bone marrow or umbilical cord blood stem cells. If you receive a stem cell transplant, your provider may use your own healthy stem cells or donated stem cells. Healthcare providers use this procedure to treat certain kinds of cancer, blood disorders and autoimmune diseases.
Are stem cells transplants common?
The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research collects data from transplant centers. According to the most recent data, there were 22,000 stem cell transplants in 2020. Procedures using peripheral blood stem cells were more common than procedures done with bone marrow and cord blood.
What are types of stem cell transplants?
The two types are allogeneic, which uses donated stem cells, and autologous, which uses your own healthy stem cells. Autologous stem cell transplants are slightly more common than allogeneic stem cell transplants.
Who might need this treatment?
Each year about 18,000 people in the United States learn they have a disease that a stem cell transplant could cure. People typically have stem cell transplants when other treatments aren’t effective or if their condition comes back after treatment. Healthcare providers may do stem cell transplants to treat different kinds of cancer, including some tumors and blood cancers, blood disorders and some autoimmune diseases.
Blood cancers
Healthcare providers may use stem cell transplants if other treatments aren’t effective or a blood cancer comes back (recurs). For example, providers may use this procedure to treat the following blood cancers:
- Multiple myeloma.
- Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
- Acute myeloid leukemia.
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
- Myelodysplastic syndrome.
- Chronic myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
- Myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera.
Blood disorders
Blood disorders are conditions that keep parts of your blood from doing their jobs. Healthcare providers may use stem cell transplants to treat:
- Aplastic anemia.
- Sickle cell anemia.
- Severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome.
- Thalassemia.
Other conditions
Providers may use stem cell transplants for the autoimmune disease relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis or testicular germ cell tumors that come back after chemotherapy.
Advertisem*nt
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
Who is a candidate for a stem cell transplant?
Healthcare providers typically use stem cell transplants to treat life-threatening cancer or blood diseases. Unfortunately, not everyone who has those conditions can have the procedure. Here are factors providers take into consideration:
- Your general health. For example, people who have stem cell transplants go through intensive chemotherapy before treatment. This is conditioning. Providers will evaluate whether you’re able to manage conditioning side effects. They’ll also consider whether you’ll be able to manage stem cell transplant side effects.
- Your medical condition. Not all cancers or blood diseases respond to stem cell transplants.
- Your earlier treatments. Some medical treatments may affect successful transplants.
- The healthy stem cells’ source. If providers can’t do an autologous stem cell transplant using your own healthy stem cells, they’ll search for donors with stem cells that are a perfect or close match. That search starts with your immediate family members. Providers may check stem cell registries, internet databases that allow providers to look for matching stem cells donated by the public. If they can’t find enough donated cells, they can’t use a stem cell transplant to treat your condition.
