Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood in order to replicate inside of a patient and to produce additional normal blood cells.[1][2][3][4][5][6] It may be autologous (the patient's own stem cells are used), allogeneic (the stem cells come from a donor) or syngeneic (from an identical twin).[4][5]
| Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation | |
|---|---|
 Bone marrow transplant | |
| ICD-9-CM | 41.0 |
| MeSH | D018380 |
| MedlinePlus | 003009 |
It is most often performed for patients with certain cancers of the blood or bone marrow, such as multiple myeloma or leukemia.[5] In these cases, the recipient's immune system is usually destroyed with radiation or chemotherapy before the transplantation. Infection and graft-versus-host disease are major complications of allogeneic HSCT.[5]
HSCT remains a dangerous procedure with many possible complications; it is reserved for patients with life-threatening diseases. As survival following the procedure has increased, its use has expanded beyond cancer to autoimmune diseases[7][8] and hereditary skeletal dysplasias, notably malignant infantile osteopetrosis[9][10] and mucopolysaccharidosis.[11]