The use of chemotherapy , or anti-cancer drugs, usually in combinations of two or more drugs, is largely responsible for the dramatic improvement in managing leukemia and lymphoma. Approximately 40 different drugs are now being used in the treatment of these diseases. Lymphoma patients, and some patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia, also can be treated with radiation therapy . Chemotherapy plus radiation may be useful for select patients with lymphoma. Bone marrow transplantation was introduced about 30 years ago and is now standard therapy for selected patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.
Autologous transplantation uses the patient's own marrow.
An allogeneic transplant uses marrow from a normal donor, usually a brother or sister who has the same tissue type. Developed during the last 10 years, the technique of harvesting stem cells from blood and from cord blood is making transplantation available to more patients. Blood and cord blood transplants differ from marrow transplants only in the source of the cells collected for transplant. Stem cells not only reside in the marrow but also circulate in the blood. Since blood as well as marrow is a very good source of stem cells for transplantation, they can be harvested from the blood of a donor, frozen and stored, and transplanted to a patient.