Bone Marrow Transplant Unit
- 19057
- (202) 25351500, Ext. 5303 & 5304
- [email protected]

What do we need to know about BMT
- A bone marrow transplant is a procedure that infuses healthy blood-forming stem cells into your body to replace your damaged or diseased bone marrow.
- The spongy tissue inside bone (bone marrow) contains stem cells.
- Stem cells are ‘mother’ cells which change and evolve to become other blood cells.
- A stem cell divides into more cells and throughout this process its ‘daughter cells’ will be differentiated into various blood cells e.g. red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
- You might need a bone marrow transplant if your bone marrow stops working and does not produce enough healthy blood cells.
- Bone marrow transplants may use cells from your own body (autologous transplant) or from a healthy related or unrelated donor (allogeneic transplant).

Why it's done?
A bone marrow transplant may be used to:
- Safely allow treatment of your condition with high doses of chemotherapy or radiation by replacing or rescuing the bone marrow damaged by treatment.
- Replace diseased or damaged marrow with new stem cells.
- Provide new stem cells, which can help kill cancer cells directly.
Types of transplant
- Autologous transplant
- Allogeneic transplant


Who gets benefits from stem cell transplant?
- Autologous SCT indications
- Relapsed Non-Hodgkin Disease
- Relapsed/refractory Hodgkin Disease
- High risk neuroblastoma
- High risk and infantile Medulloblastoma
- Extra ocular Retinoblastoma
- Relapsed Wilms Tumor, Ewing Sarcoma & Germ cell tumor
- Allogeneic HSCT indications
Malignant | Benign disorders |
Leukemia
Lymphoma
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Donor availability
- For many people who have leukemia, lymphoma, or certain other blood disorders, BMT offers the best chance of a cure.
- But only about 25% of people who need an allogeneic transplant — the type of transplant in which donor cells are used — have a sibling who is a suitable genetic match.
- The remaining 75% usually look to registries of unrelated volunteers to find a compatible donor.