Bone Marrow (Haematopoietic Stem Cell) Transplant
A haematopoietic stem cell (which includes blood and bone marrow) transplant can potentially offer a cure for people suffering from blood cancers or disorders, such as leukaemia or aplastic anaemia, and even some autoimmune diseases.
How our programme can help you
If you’re suffering from a blood cancer such as leukaemia, your body stops producing the right amount and type of blood cells, which can leave you vulnerable to even simple infections such as the flu. To get rid of the cancer cells, you’ll most likely undergo chemotherapy to kill the unwanted cells in your blood stream and bone marrow. After this, your empty bone marrow needs to receive a new and healthy set of stem cells to replace the cancerous ones and give you a fully functioning immune system.
The team from
bone marrow transplant programme, also known as the Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Programme, will assess your condition and plan a tailored treatment and recovery plan with you.
If your condition is suitable for a transplant, the transplant team will look for a bone marrow match. Your own bone marrow or blood stem cells may be used (this is known an autologous transplant), or that of your siblings (this is known as an allogeneic transplant). The chance of a sibling’s marrow matching yours is one in four. If you don’t have any siblings or none of them provide a match, the team can search national and international registries for unrelated donors (these are also referred to as allogeneic transplants).
Umbilical cord blood may also provide the necessary stem cells. If you’re interested to find out more about transplants using umbilical cord blood, go to our page on
umbilical cord blood transplants.
Achievements
Singapore General Hospital’s Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant started in 1985 and has performed more than 1,000 transplants since then. Acute myeloid leukaemia is the disease for which bone marrow transplants are most commonly performed at Singapore General Hospital. Over the last 20 years, an average of 40 to 50 transplants have been done a year.
The results of our programme are comparable to those achieved by the best centres around the world.
For more information on bone marrow transplants
Contact
Ms Lee Jing Jing
Senior Bone Marrow Transplant Coordinator
Department of Haematology
Singapore General Hospital
Outram Road
Singapore 169608