A Bone Marrow Transplant is a medical procedure used to replace damaged or diseased bone marrow with healthy stem cells. The bone marrow is the soft, spongy tissue inside bones responsible for producing blood cells—red cells, white cells, and platelets. When the marrow is not functioning properly due to conditions like leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, aplastic anemia, thalassemia, or other genetic and immune disorders, a transplant may be recommended.

Types of Bone Marrow Transplant

• Autologous Transplant: The patient’s own healthy stem cells are collected, stored, and later infused back after intensive treatment (such as chemotherapy or radiation).
• Allogeneic Transplant: Stem cells are taken from a matched donor (a sibling, unrelated donor, or cord blood) and transplanted into the patient.

Procedure

• Preparation (Conditioning): High-dose chemotherapy and/or radiation is given to destroy diseased marrow and suppress the immune system.
• Stem Cell Infusion: Healthy stem cells are infused into the patient’s bloodstream, similar to a blood transfusion.
• Engraftment: The infused stem cells travel to the bone marrow and begin producing new blood cells, usually within 2–4 weeks.

Benefits

• Restores normal blood cell production.
• Improves immunity.
• Provides potential cure for certain cancers and blood disorders.

Risks & Side Effects

• Infections (due to weak immunity during recovery).
• Graft-versus-host disease (in allogeneic transplant, when donor cells attack patient’s body).
• Bleeding, anemia, organ complications.