Understanding How Stem Cell Transplants Work
- The first step of a stem cell transplant in the treatment of multiple myeloma involves extracting blood-making cells from the patient's body.
- These cells are then frozen, and the patient undergoes chemotherapy. Chemotherapy aims to kill cancerous cells, but it can also damage healthy cells that people need to function.
- After a round of chemotherapy, the patient's own blood making cells are reinfused into their body through an IV. These cells move into the bone marrow, where they generate cells to replace the cells lost during chemotherapy.
Why Have a Stem Cell Transplant?
Dr. Matthew Ulrickson spoke with SurvivorNet to explain how the stem cell transplant process supports a more long-lasting response to treatment in people with multiple myeloma than could be achieved with chemotherapy alone. "I describe it often to patients as a little more bang for your buck," he said.RELATED: Determining if You Need a Stem Cell Transplant
Read More- Stem cells are collected from the blood stream
- These cells are frozen and stored
- The patient undergoes chemotherapy which is designed to kill cancer cells but will also kill healthy cells
- The patient’s stem cells are reintroduced into their blood stream, and the cells travel back into the bone marrow
- Within two weeks, the stem cells resume producing blood cells
Stem Cell Collection
The first step in a stem cell transplant is aimed at collecting blood-making cells from the patient's body. "This can either be done with the use of chemotherapy medicines and what we call growth factor or a growth factor alone," said Dr. Ulrickson. A growth factor is an injection of the chemical that signals the body to produce white blood cells. By introducing more of this chemical into the body, a growth factor pushes some of these blood-making cells out of the bone marrow and into the blood stream.RELATED: When Should You Get a Stem Cell Transplant for Multiple Myeloma?
From there, blood is collected through an IV, and spun in a machine that enables doctors to isolate the layer of blood cells they want. These cells are collected and frozen, and the remaining blood is put back into the body. These frozen cells can be stored for years, but they are typically reintroduced into the body in the first window of response to treatment or after the first phase of induction therapy.
Induction and Transplant
After the blood-making cells are frozen and stored, the patient receives a chemotherapy treatment that attacks the multiple myeloma cells.
Without a stem cell transplant, this chemotherapy treatment would cause the patient's blood counts to dip dangerously low, and to stay low for a long period of time. Instead, doctors wait a day until the chemotherapy has left the bloodstream, and then they re-infuse the blood-making cells that they had stored back into the body.
"The cells remember where their home is," said Dr. Ulrickson. "They go back to the bone marrow space and start making blood. Ten to fourteen days after these cells go back in, you’ll start to see the production of blood resumed, and this helps keep the process safe."
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
