Autologous Transplant

Welcome to our step-by-step guide to autologous bone marrow transplantation. This area of the site provides information about the steps involved in undergoing a bone marrow transplant. It is designed to give patients, their families and their friends a better understanding of what to expect throughout the process.

What is an autologous bone marrow transplant?

An autologous bone marrow transplant is when a patient uses his or her own stem cells to fight disease. But since the patient’s bone marrow is already diseased, doctors must clean the patient’s bone marrow by killing cancer cells before they are transplanted back into the patient.

There are generally three steps in autologous transplants:

1. Chemotherapy to reduce cancer cells in the body as much as possible.
2. Collection and storage of bone marrow cells.
3. The transplant itself, which involves high doses of chemotherapy with or without radiation, followed by transplantation of stem cells back into the patient and waiting for the infection-fighting power of bone marrow to return.

The following list details the step by step process of autologous transplantation. Please refer to the right hand links for additional information on each step.

• Chemotherapy for Autologous Transplant Patients
• Collecting the Cells
• About the Central Line
• Preparative Regimen
• The Transplant
• Recovering from the Transplant
• Going Home and Getting Back to Normal

Interested in knowing more about our program? Visit the home page for the Bone Marrow Transplant Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.