When bone marrow bone marrow: The soft, spongy tissue inside most bones. Blood cells are formed in the bone marrow. transplants were first done, doctors used actual bone marrow from a donor. This was put into the patient’s blood stream where it would find its way to the bone marrow and started to grow. This process was called a bone marrow transplant bone marrow transplant: A bone marrow transplant (BMT) is also called a stem cell transplant (SCT) or hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).The procedure replaces unhealthy blood-forming stem cells with healthy ones and offers some patients the possibility of a cure. But for many patients, a BMT is not an option due… or BMT.
Over time, scientists realized that the bone marrow stem cells stem cells: Cells in the body that develop into other cells. There are two main sources of stem cells. Embryonic stem cells come from human embryos and are used in medical research. Adult stem cells in the body repair and maintain the organ or tissue in which they are found. Blood-forming (hemapoietic) stem… found in a person’s circulating blood were very similar to those in the bone marrow. They started harvesting these cells from blood, instead of bone marrow. Doctors call this type of transplant a “peripheral blood stem cell transplant” (or PBSCT).
The general term “hematopoietic stem cell transplant” (HSCT or SCT) is often used today to include transplants done with:
- Bone marrow – Stem cells are collected from marrow inside the donor's hip bones.
- Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) – The donor is given a white cell growth factor that increases the production of white blood cells and also dislodges stem cells from the marrow, causing them to circulate in the blood for a while. The cells are collected from the donor's blood using a special machine.
- Umbilical cord blood – Stem cells are collected from the umbilical cord and placenta right after the birth of a baby. They are kept frozen until needed.