For individuals, friends and families who are looking to connect during life's challenging times. Share personal experiences, evaluate information and get support during times of need, illness, treatment or recovery.
Community
Treatment
- NHL Treatment
- Hodgkin's Treatment
- Clinical Trials
- Treatment Centers
- Chemotherapy
- Immunotherapy
- Monoclonal Antibodies
- Radiotherapy
- Radioimmunotherapy
Understand
- Where to Start
- What is Lymphoma?
- The Lymphatic System
- Lymphoma Symptoms
- Lymphoma Causes
- Lymphoma Prognosis
- Lymphoma Stages
- Refractory/Relapsed Lymphoma
- Indolent lymphoma
Nicole-- Unfortunately, these
Nicole--
Unfortunately, these terms have become jumbled a bit and can be confusing.
The term "Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant" (HSCT) is an umbrella term covering all such transplants, including stem cell transplants and bone marrow transplants. The reason? Because in lymphomas, a stem cell transplant and a bone marrow transplant are terms that are used interchangeably because they mean the same thing.
Your bone marrow produces cells that, when immature (young), can become any kind of blood cell-- red, white, myeloid, lymphoid, whatever the body needs. For this reason, we call them stem cells, and since they go on to mature into every type of blood cell, you can imagine how important they are.
The difference occurs in WHERE doctors get those stem cells. While many times, doctors get stem cells from the bone marrow, other times they are able to harvest stem cells from the blood already circulating in the body. These cells, still stem cells, are known as peripheral blood stem cells because they are found outside the bone marrow in the bloodstream. When a person donates their stem cells so another person can receive an HSCT, those cells are either taken from their bone marrow, or they are harvested from their bloodstream.
The other difference is the source of the cells themselves. In an AUTOLOGOUS stem cell transplant, the patient receives his or her own stem cells (they are harvested from the bone marrow, then the cancer in their body is destroyed by high-dose chemo and radiation, then the stem cells are returned to the body. In an ALLOGENIC stem cell transplant, the stem cells are harvested from a matching donor. The patient still undergoes chemo and radiation, but then they receive the donor cells. Like any transplant, allogenic transplants are more dangerous than autologous ones.
Ross