Transplant Process
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) is divided up into different phases:
- Recipient evaluation
- Conditioning / preparative regimen:
- Delivers chemotherapy, radiation therapy (RT), or both to eliminate malignancy, prevent rejection of new stem cells, and create space for the new cells
- Transplant itself:
- Stem cell infusion
- Aplastic phase:
- The patient has no effective immune system and the bone marrow is not functioning. This lasts for roughly 2-4 weeks.
- Engraftment phase is when the new bone marrow starts to function and acute graft versus host disease is seen at this time
- Long-term follow-up phase:
- This is the "post-engraftment" phase and lasts many months to years after the transplant
