Quick guide to ... Bone marrow transplants

6 October 2009 1 min read Health

Bone marrow transplants are often the last resort for patients suffering from diseases affecting the blood cells such as leukaemia, which is cancer of the white blood cells, or sickle cell anaemia. Another condition, the genetic defect primary immunodeficiency (PID), is usually lethal unless patients receive a bone marrow transplant

Transplantation involves taking healthy stem cells from a healthy donor's bone marrow, which is then injected into the patient's bone marrow. The new cells then take over production of blood cells

Transplant patients have to undergo high doses of chemotherapy to wipe out their own bone marrow and create space for the new cells. However, researchers at Great Ormond Street Hospital and UCL Institute of Child Health are working on a treatment that uses antibodies to clear out bone marrow. This avoids side effects of chemotherapy such as infertility, sickness and hair loss. Young patients will benefit in particular, as chemotherapy can make them too sick to tolerate a transplant

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