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Active status: Active

Name of Treatment Program: Bone Marrow Transplant

Short description: Our Bone Marrow Transplant program is committed to developing leading-edge strategies for autologous and allogeneic bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for a wide variety of hematologic malignancies, solid tumors and other life-threatening hematologic disorders

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The Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center's Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program is world-renowned for its expertise in bone marrow transplantation to treat a wide variety of hematological malignancies and other blood dyscrasias. We also conduct leading-edge translational research to develop innovative strategies for improving the outcomes of these transplants.

Our program is advancing clinical care and research in two main areas:

Enhancing the safety and efficacy of BMT by developing novel strategies for reducing transplant related toxicities and optimizing graft versus tumor effects
Inducing tolerance for solid organ transplants by performing combined kidney and bone marrow transplants

Innovative Approaches We offer a comprehensiverange of BMT services, including:

Autologous transplants, in which patients receive their own stem cells
Allogeneic transplants, in which patients receive donor stem cells. Among the allogeneic transplant options are matched related or unrelated donor transplants, haploidentical (mismatched related donor) transplants and cord blood transplants

Other advanced techniques include:

Using drugs that reduce graft vs. host disease, leading to improved safety and effectiveness of BMT as a cancer-fighting therapy
“Mini”-transplants—in which chemotherapy and radiation are administered in lower, less toxic doses before the transplant—that lessen the toxicities of the transplant, thereby permitting the transplantation of older patients and patients who have co-morbid illnesses
Use of transplantation earlier in the course of therapy
A therapy pioneered by our program for patients with multiple myeloma who have renal failure: a kidney transplant is conducted at the same time as the bone marrow transplant, which provides treatment of the myeloma and increases the likelihood of acceptance of the kidney without the use of immunosuppressive drugs

Making Transplant More Widely AvailableBecause a perfectly matched related donor is often not an option for patients, our program is advancing strategies that reduce the complications of genetically mismatched donor transplants. One of these strategies involves creating “chimeras” or a mix of the donor’s and the patient’s blood cells. This technique may lessen the complication of graft versus host disease and can also be used to “trick” the patient’s immune system into thinking it is the donor’s, thereby allowing for acceptance of a donor organ without the need for immunosuppressive drugs.

Developing Better Therapies through ResearchThe Bone Marrow Transplant Program benefits from a close association with the Transplant Biology Research Center. We are dedicated to understanding the basic immunologic mechanisms through which specific tolerance can be induced for organ transplants by performing combined bone marrow and organ transplants. We are also conducting investigations into the mechanism of the graft versus tumor effect of BMT and how it can be separated from graft versus host disease.

Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Mass General Hospital

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Support and Wellness

Case Management

As a member of the patient’s multidisciplinary treatment team, the case manager communications frequently with patients and their families and acts as a liaison between patients and providers and handles all reimbursement issues. The case manager facilitates the patient’s care in the acute phase and ensures that the patient has whatever support services are needed. As a result, patients receive the highest quality, most cost-effective care possible.

Parenting At A Challenging Time (PACT)

This is a parenting support program for patients diagnosed with life-threatening cancer. One of the few programs in the country of its kind, it features child psychiatrists and psychologists who are available on both an inpatient and outpatient basis to address parent’s questions and help them to understand how children view medical illness.