The transference of bone marrow from one human or animal to another.
Procedure in which a section of bone marrow is taken from one person and transplanted into another; used to replace bone marrow that has been damaged or diseased, such as by leukemia or lymphoma. Autologous bone marrow transplant means that the patient’s own bone marrow is used. In this case, the donor marrow is obtained prior to giving high doses of radiation or chemotherapy, usually for cancer, that essentially destroys the patient’s own remaining bone marrow. An allogeneic bone marrow transplant uses marrow from a donor whose tissue type closely matches the patient s, usually a sibling.
Replacement of diseased bone marrow (the soft fatty tissues inside bone that produce blood cells) with a graft of a donor’s healthy bone marrow; may be done following total body irradiation to prevent rejection of the graft.
A treatment in which an individual with cancer receives his or her own previously harvested healthy bone marrow or stem cells to replace bone marrow that has been damaged by chemotherapy or radiation. Autologous bone marrow transplant avoids the problems associated with using bone marrow from a donor whose cells may not be a good genetic match for the recipient.
The replacement of an individual’s defective bone marrow with the bone marrow. Stem cells (cells from which the different types of blood cells develop) are present in normal bone marrow and blood. They can be harvested by removing bone marrow from a donor or by drawing the blood of a donor and using a blood pheresis machine, a device that separates blood into its different components. In an allogeneic transplant, the donor is usually a sibling other relative, or a nonrelative whose marrow is closely matched to that of the recipient’s. To find a match, scientists look at six genetic markers found on white blood cells. The transplant is more likely to succeed if most or all of the markers of the donor and recipient match.
The procedure by which malignant or defective bone marrow in a patient is replaced with normal bone marrow. Sometimes the patient’s own marrow is used (when the disease is in remission); after storage using tissue-freezing technique (cryopreservation) it is reinfused into the patient once the diseased marrow has been treated (autologous transplant). More commonly, a transplant uses marrow from a donor whose tissue has been matched for compatibility. The recipient’s marrow is destroyed with cytotoxic drugs before transfusion. The recipient is initially nursed in an isolated environment to reduce the risk of infection.
Transplantation of bone marrow from one individual to another. It is used in treating aplastic anemia, thalassemia and sickle cell anemia, immunodeficiency disorders, acute leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and testicular cancer, among others.