In order to determine the role of high-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow or blood stem cell transplantation for the treatment of your cancer, you need to understand the terminology associated with this increasingly utilized treatment strategy. Chemotherapy drugs and radiation therapy are used to treat cancer. Higher doses of chemotherapy kill more cancer cells than lower doses of chemotherapy in certain types of cancer. Unfortunately, the higher doses of chemotherapy used to destroy cancer cells also cause damage or side effects to normal cells. One of the body's normal cells that is most sensitive to destruction by high-dose chemotherapy is the bone marrow containing the blood producing stem cells.
Stem cells live predominantly in the bone marrow but can circulate in the blood.
When high-dose chemotherapy is used to treat cancer, one of the major side effects is destruction of the stem cells living in the bone marrow. Stem cell transplants are classified based on which individual donates the stem cells and from where the stem cells are collected. Stem cells may be collected from the bone marrow, peripheral blood or umbilical cord. Therefore, the terms bone marrow transplantation , peripheral blood stem cell transplantation , and umbilical cord transplantation are utilized. There are important advantages and disadvantages to utilizing stem cells collected from these different sources.