Cell Sources for Transplants

Bone marrow transplantation was developed to treat patients, primarily those with cancers of the blood. This procedure involves bone marrow harvesting, which takes place in an operating room under general anesthesia. Marrow is removed from the top of the hip bone and then filtered, treated and transplanted immediately or frozen for later use. Patients undergoing a bone marrow transplant typically spend anywhere between four to six weeks in the hospital.

Peripheral stem cell transplantation has replaced bone marrow transplantation for many diseases such as leukemia. During this procedure, patients are given a medication to increase the number of stem cells, which are then removed directly from the blood, treated and returned to the body after therapy. Peripheral blood stem cell harvesting involves less risk, as there is no need for general anesthesia. Many more cells can be collected from the blood and patients' blood counts recover faster. In addition, patients are only in the hospital for about three weeks. In some circumstances, they even can be treated on an outpatient basis with appropriate care.

Placental and umbilical cord blood transplants are done primarily in children where the blood is collected from the placenta and umbilical cord at birth and stored for later use. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) are currently exploring ways to expand cord blood stem cells, which could provide an important alternative source of stem cells for treating adults with cancer and other disorders.

Currently, 85 percent of transplants performed at UPMC Cancer Centers use stem cells. However, bone marrow transplantation still may be appropriate in some circumstances. Regardless of whether healthy stem cells are removed from the bone marrow or blood, they are transplanted directly into a patient's bloodstream. From there, the stem cells return to the bone marrow and become a new source of healthy, mature cells.