Patients can receive blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) through Blood and Marrow Transplant Services, P.L.L.C., a subsidiary of Texas Oncology. These services are available at three locations: Texas Oncology-Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas Oncology-Medical City Dallas, and Texas Oncology-Amarillo.
These medical procedures are used to treat diseases once thought incurable. The main purpose of BMT is to allow patients to receive very high doses of chemotherapy and, in some cases, radiation therapy.
Your bone marrow, which contains vital blood-producing stem cells, can be destroyed by high-dose chemotherapy. As an element of a chemotherapy treatment plan, your physician may recommend that a portion of your bone marrow be withdrawn, cleansed, treated, and stored. After being given a high dose of chemotherapy, you would receive your own stored marrow intravenously to bolster your immune defenses.
If your treatment plan calls for blood stem cell transplantation, stem cells will be removed from your circulating blood before treatment to protect them from injury during intensive chemotherapy. After chemotherapy is complete, the stem cells will be returned so they can reproduce "normal" marrow.