Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is used to treat a wide spectrum of haematological and non-haematological disorders (1). In a typical stem cell transplantation, patient first receives a conditioning regimen, that includes chemotherapy sometimes along with radiation therapy, to try to kill the cancer cells. Conditioning regimen also kills stem cells in the bone marrow. Soon after conditioning regimen, blood stem cells are given (transplanted) to replace those that were destroyed (2).

There are 2 main types of transplant procedures, based on who donates the stem cells: autologous and allogeneic transplantations. The stem cells in autologous transplantations come from the same person who will get the transplant. The stem cells in allogeneic transplantations come from a person other than the patient, who is a matched related or unrelated donor (2).

Autologous stem cell transplantations are often used to treat Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma (3). Allogeneic stem cell transplantations are mainly used to treat leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative neoplasms (4).

Worldwide, approximately 90,000 hematopoietic stem cell transplantations—53% autologous and 47% allogeneic—are performed every year, according to the Worldwide Network of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (5)

Whether a stem cell transplantation is required, and which type of transplantation may need to be carried out, is determined by specialized physicians. Decisions on conditioning regimen are made by specialized physicians.