Search

Glossary

Definition of medical terms used on the web.

Bone Marrow Transplant


Procedure by which diseased or damaged bone marrow is replaced by healthy bone marrow.
There are several types according to the type of donor:

Autologous: If from the patient himself.
Allogeneic: If from a sibling.
Haploidentical: if from another family member.
Unrelated: If not from any family member.
Before transplantation a procedure is performed called apheresis which consists of collection of as many stem cells as possible and then freezing them for infusion at the appropriate time. In a second phase, a high dose of chemotherapy is administered that eliminates any pathological cell from the body or destroys the diseased marrow to replace it. At the time of the lowest cell count, the previously unfrozen stem cells are introduced into the patient by the intravenous route.