At the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute, we provide the full spectrum of care for our patients. We want you to feel informed and prepared for your stem cell transplant procedures. Our team will take the time to explain every step in detail and answer any questions you may have. We tailor your treatment plan for your needs, factoring in your age, general health and specific condition. Our team will discuss your individual transplantation process with you. Our expert transplantation team works with you to determine your candidacy. The evaluation process, which may last a few days, includes many different types of tests: You may begin the process by either: Your overall health contributes greatly to the success of your transplant. At the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Network, we want to ensure that you are in the best health possible before your procedure. Our pre-transplant coordinators and support staff will help guide you through the preparation phase, helping you lower your risk of complications and increase your chances for a positive, long-term outcome. They may recommend some exams or tests prior to your transplant, to treat existing infections and plan for your postoperative care. These include: We will then begin preparing you for the actual procedure. Once we have completed the evaluation and determined that you are a transplant candidate, we will begin the first step: a harvesting procedure. We will collect the cells from you or from a donor, depending on the type of transplant procedure you are having: Bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell harvesting is the first step in your transplant process. During harvesting, we obtain the stem cells we need for your transplant. We may harvest the cells from you, a relative, or an unrelated donor, or we may obtain cells from an umbilical cord. At MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, we have unique expertise in this area. We are home to the National Marrow Donor Program, the largest marrow and blood stem cell harvesting site in the nation. This high volume gives our team a superior level of experience and expertise in cell collection. The timing of the harvesting procedure depends on the type of transplant you are having: With either you or your donor under general or spinal anesthesia, your specialist will remove a small portion of bone marrow from your or the donor’s hips with a syringe. The amount of marrow taken depends on the patient’s weight and the specific condition to be treated. The body can replace marrow in about two weeks. Blood stem cell harvesting is another way to obtain the stem cells needed for transplantation. Your specialist will place a needle into a vein in each of your arms to collect blood into a leukapheresis machine, which removes the white blood cells and returns the other blood cells back to the patient. For some patients, a catheter will be placed into a vein to gain access to blood. This collection procedure has few side effects, and our experienced transplantation nurses will monitor you regularly and a physician will be onsite at all times. You will be awake the entire time, and after the session, you may go home. After the cells are harvested, you will receive radiation and/or chemotherapy to kill cancer cells and prepare your body for the transplant. This type of treatment is called conditioning and is necessary for a few reasons: You may receive one of two types of radiation therapy: Chemotherapy is another treatment that rids the body of cancer or blood disease. Chemotherapy is a mixture of medications that destroys diseased tissue. Depending on your particular condition, we may need to administer one or more types of chemotherapy (with or without radiation therapy) as part of your transplantation treatment. Our goal is to rid your body of all traces of the disease. We may administer the drugs intravenously (an IV) or in pill form. Features of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital’s radiation and chemotherapy program include: Once we have finished the harvesting, we can begin the procedure. The actual stem cell transplant procedure is relatively quick and simple. You may be receiving your own bone marrow/stem cells or bone marrow/stem cells from a donor. In either case, the transplant resembles a blood transfusion. There are generally few side effects. Here is a general idea of what you can expect: After your transplant, you will need to remain in the hospital’s transplant unit for two to three weeks, until your bone marrow is functioning normally. While you are recovering, our experienced, dedicated transplant nurses will care for you. During this period, we will test your blood daily to track your progress. We will also monitor you carefully for side effects from chemotherapy and radiation, as well as for infections, graft vs. host disease (if you have an allogeneic transplant), and graft failure.Establishing Candidacy
Preparation
Harvesting
Bone Marrow Harvesting
Stem Cell Harvesting
Radiation and Chemotherapy
Radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
Infusion and Transplantation
Recovery