About Leukemia: Stem Cell Transplants

When a person is going to undergo a stem cell transplants, they usually are treated with exceptionally high doses of radiation and drugs. This treatment kills all the cells – both healthy and leukemia infected – in the area. Once the cells are killed, new, healthy cells are injected through a tube. New, healthy blood cells can then develop and spread through the body.

There are several types of stem cell transplants. A bone marrow transplant is when infected marrow is replaced with healthy marrow. Peripheral stem cell transplants are when the stem cells being transplanted come from peripheral blood. Sometimes a child has no donor for one of the earlier options. They can then do something called an umbilical cord blood transplantation. This is when they take blood from a baby’s umbilical cord (don’t worry – it doesn’t hurt the baby).

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