Bone Marrow Transplant Program

About the Bone Marrow Transplant Program

If you have been diagnosed with leukemia, aplastic anemia, lymphoma or another type of cancer, you may be a candidate for a bone marrow transplant. The Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) team at Jefferson delivers the skilled and comprehensive care you need. In fact, Jefferson has become the go-to program to which many physicians send their patients when they don't have another option to offer.

Rated a Top Hospital for Cancer by U.S.News & World Report, Jefferson meets the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) standards for bone marrow and tissue transplantation. Our physicians are committed to providing you with thorough and compassionate care prior to, during and after your bone marrow transplant procedure. As with any organ transplant, a proper donor must be found first. Once a donor has been identified, you will be prepped for the procedure.

Preparations for a bone marrow transplant vary depending on:

• The type of transplant
• The disease requiring transplant
• Your tolerance for certain medications

BMT Outcomes

The outcomes of three highly successful trials conducted by our Program during the past five years have greatly surpassed our original expectations. The transplant approach used in these trials was originally developed for patients lacking matched donors. Their only option was to receive a halfmatched (haploidentical) transplant. These trials utilize a unique “two-step” approach:

1. Step one of the transplant is a lymphocyte infusion from the donor containing a fixed, optimized number of T-cells. After allowing those T-cells that can recognize the recipient to become activated for a few days, patients subsequently receive further chemotherapy in an effort to eliminate proliferating donor lymphocytes that are likely to cause graftversus-host disease (GVHD) after transplant.
2. Step two of the transplant takes place after the chemotherapy is metabolized, when donor stem cells are infused to restore blood counts.

Our team has extensive experience and expertise in using mismatched donors for BMT, having now performed more than 100 transplants using this new approach.

Your Bone Marrow Transplant Team

The BMT team at Jefferson is highly skilled and known for excellence in providing compassionate and state-of-the-art care to meet your needs as a bone marrow transplant patient. Throughout the course of your care, your BMT team is committed to offering you the most comprehensive care and a multidisciplinary approach to your treatment. Your team members may consist of your physician, bone marrow transplant nurse coordinator, social workers, dieticians, physical therapists and others, depending upon your treatment protocol.

Team members work and coordinate with each other to make sure that your bone marrow transplant goes smoothly and that you have a speedy recovery.