Diseases Treated By Transplant

A blood stem cell transplant is a potential treatment for patients who have been diagnosed with one of more than 100 different diseases. Patients with multiple myeloma, leukemia, lymphoma and Hodgkins disease are most often treated with a blood stem cell transplant. Patients with blood disorders such as sickle cell disease or thalassemia may also be treated with a blood stem cell transplant.

Not all patients with these diseases require a transplant. Blood stem cell transplants are usually reserved for patients who have a high risk of relapsing (the disease comes back) after less intensive treatment or who have already relapsed.

Although a blood stem cell transplant is used most often to treat patients with a blood cell disorder, it is also a potential treatment for patients with an autoimmune diseaseA disease that results when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own tissues. such as lupus or multiple sclerosis; an immune deficiency disease such as SCIDSSevere combined immunodeficiency syndrome. or Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome; inborn errors of metabolism such as Hurler's Syndrome; and solid tumors such as neuroblastoma or a brain tumor.

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDPNational Marrow Donor Program.) has developed fact sheet for some diseases treated by transplant.  Review the box on the right for links to those web page.

ASBMTAmerican Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Guidelines

The American Society for Blood & Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) has issued guidelines about when it is appropriate to transplant patients with various diseases.  They currently have guidelines for the following diseases:

• Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in Adults
• Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in Children
• Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in Adults
• Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in Children
• Multiple Myeloma
• Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)

Multiple Myeloma

Stem cell transplants are  performed most often for patients with multiple myeloma. To learn more about multiple myeloma and when a transplant is an appropriate treatment option, you can view two BMT InfoNet webcasts. 

The first, Multiple Myeloma 101, explains what myeloma is and when a transplant might be considered.

The second, Stem Cell Transplant for Myeloma: Is it Right for Me?, provides a more in-depth discussion of when it is appropriate for myeloma patients to consider a transplant.

Number of Transplants & Outcome Data

The Health Resouces Service Administration (HRSA), a division of the US Federal Government, hosts a web site with information on stem cell transplants.  They offer data on:

• Transplants performed in the US in 2008, by disease
• Transplants performed at individual transplant centers, by disease, in 2008
• Transplant outcomes data for the years 2000-2005

When reviewing this data, keep in mind that improvements are constantly being made in the field of transplantation, and that outcome data for the years 2000-2005 may not necessarily reflect what is being achieved by transplant centers today.