STEM CELL THERAPY

Stem cells are rare cells found in bone marrow. They are the building blocks of the three types of blood. They are amazing because they are able to mature into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, which help blood clot. Yet a constant supply of stem cells remains in bone marrow. Without bone marrow stem cells, a person would not be able to fight off infection, (the job of white blood cells), stop bleeding (the job of platelets), or bring oxygen to the cells of the body (the job of red blood cells).

Stem cell transplantation is a medical procedure in the fields of hematology and oncology, most often performed for people with diseases of the blood, bone marrow, or certain types of cancer.

A stem cell transplant can be either be:

1. Allogeneic, in which the stem cells come from another person - a donor. The donor may be a relative, ideally a twin. Otherwise, they could be a brother and sister. Another unrelated, but matched, person may also donate marrow

2. Autologous, in which the patient's own stem cells, collected before the high-dose chemotherapy, are transplanted back into them Stem cell therapy is certainly a promising area for research. Stem cells have the ability to give rise to many specialized cells in an organism. Certain types of stem cells are already used to restore blood-forming and immune system function after high-dose chemotherapy for some types of cancer, and several other restorative uses have been demonstrated. Stem cell transplantation usually refers to cases of transplantation in which the stem cells are collected from the peripheral blood by apheresis.

The main purpose of stem cell transplantation in cancer treatment is to make it possible for patients to receive very high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation. High dose chemotherapy and radiation can severely damage or destroy your bone marrow while killing cancer cells. Because high-dose chemotherapy also destroys normal blood-producing stem cells in the bone marrow, these cells must be replaced in order to restore blood cell production.

To collect the stem cells for the transplant, a machine called a cell separator removes blood from a vein in the arm, taking out the stem cells and then returning the blood to the patient. This may involve visiting the hospital for several hours over a few days. It is not a painful procedure and no general anaesthetic is needed. The cells are stored until needed.

Transplants are currently being used primarily to treat Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia and some breast cancers. They may also prove effective with certain lung and ovarian cancers.