Bone marrow transplant

To perform a bone marrow transplant, cells in the centre of certain bones are collected from a living donor and are then transfused directly into one of the recipient’s veins after their existing bone marrow has been destroyed.

Alternatively, cells may be collected from the recipient’s own bone marrow during a period when their disease is in remission and frozen for later use.

The stored bone marrow may then be thawed and used to replace abnormal bone marrow in the recipient’s body if disease occurs.