Preparative Regimen

Your transplant begins with chemotherapyDrug or combination of drugs designed to kill cancerous cells., total body irradiation (TBITotal body irradiation.) treatment or both. This part of the transplant process is called the preparative regimenThe treatments used to prepare a patient for stem cell transplantation (a procedure in which a person receives blood stem cells, which make any type of blood cell). A preparative regimen may include chemotherapy, monoclonal antibody therapy, and radiation to the entire body. It helps make room in the patient’s bone marrow for new blood stem cells to grow, helps prevent the patient's body from rejecting the transplanted cells, and helps kill any cancer cells that are in the body. Also called conditioning regimen. or conditioning regimenThe combination of chemotherapy and/or radiation given to a patient prior to a stem cell transplantation. Also called the preparative regimen.. The type and dosage of the chemotherapy or TBI depends on your disease and the preferred treatment plan of the hospital.

Chemotherapy uses powerful drugs to destroy diseased cells in your body. It is usually administered into your bloodstream through a catheterSmall, flexible plastic tube inserted into a portion of the body to administer or remove fluids. that was previously installed in a large vein, or taken by mouth.

Total body irradiation is typically administered to patients over a one to seven day period. While patients do not actually see or feel the radiation, some still find it an unnerving experience. You may be given drugs to help manage your anxiety.

You may also experience nausea and vomiting following your radiation treatments. Your transplant team will give you medications to help control this.

The preparative regimen has two objectives: to destroy the patient's disease, and to suppress the patient's immune system so that transplanted blood stem cells can begin producing healthy blood cells. The prepartive regimen usually takes between four and ten days.

You will either be admitted to the hospital during the preparative regimen or treated in an outpatient clinic.

The preparative regimen can be challenging for patients. There are many possible side effects and patients may feel fatigued for some time after treatment. However, the process is absolutely necessary to prepare your body for a transplant.

You can learn about side effects associated with the drugs used during the preparative regimen in our drug database. A detailed account of preparative regimen's side effects can be found in our patient handbooks on transplantation.