How is it performed? of Bone marrow transplant

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If you have leukaemia, before your transplant you may be given a low level of chemotherapy or radiotherapy to kill as much of the cancer as possible. Then the bone marrow will be taken from your donor. Then you will have high-dose chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment to kill all of the remaining cancer cells. After this, the bone marrow or stem cells will be replaced in your body.

If you are having bone marrow from a donor (an allogenic transplant), the donorâ€™s bone marrow will be removed in an operation (See â€˜Bone marrow donationâ€™ topic for more information). Then the healthy bone marrow will be injected into your blood stream, usually through a vein in the neck or groin.

If you are having your own bone marrow â€˜harvestedâ€™ (an autologous transplant), about two pints of bone marrow will be taken from around your pelvis using a syringe, while you are under general anaesthetic. Then it will be stored until after your chemotherapy when it will be put back.

The bone marrow is inserted through a thin plastic tube called a Hickman line, usually in the neck or groin. It travels in your blood to the spaces inside the large bones and, if the transplant is a success, you will soon begin to produce normal healthy blood cells.

With allogenic transplants, in some cases, your body may not accept the new bone marrow. This is called graft-versus host disease. Your immune system attacks your body cells and causes symptoms such as diarrhoea, rashes and liver damage. It is quite rare for this to happen because you will be given drugs to prevent it and tissue type is very carefully matched.