Understanding Stem Cell Transplant VICC Momentum

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center performs around 215 stem cell and bone marrow transplants each year, providing care leading up to the transplant, through all aspects of the procedure, and indefinitely after the transplant to monitor for complications. To address some common questions about the procedure, we spoke with Madan Jagasia, M.D., director of the Outpatient Transplant Program and section chief for Hematology and Stem Cell Transplant at Vanderbilt-Ingram.

What is a stem cell? (click to enlarge)

Stem cells or more specifically, in this case, hematopoietic stem cells are cells that can give rise to all the different types of mature blood cells the red blood cells that carry oxygen, the platelets involved in blood clotting, and a host of white blood cells, which are part of the bodys immune system and provide defense against infectious agents. Stem cells are self-renewing (i.e., they can produce more of themselves) and reside primarily in the bone marrow but also circulate in the blood.

For a stem cell transplant, the stem cells can come from a related or unrelated donor, from umbilical cord blood, or from the patient him/herself.

No, these are adult stem cells, from the blood or bone marrow. Even when the source of stem cells is umbilical cord blood, these are still adult stem cells and have nothing to do with embryonic stem cells.

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Understanding Stem Cell Transplant VICC Momentum