A bone marrow or stem cell transplant aims to give you a source of healthy bone marrow and allows for much higher doses of chemotherapy to be given.
Stem cells are immature blood cells which develop into red cells, white cells and platelets.
They can be taken from the bone marrow or collected directly from the blood. Bone marrow and stem cell transplants may be of benefit to some people but are not suitable for everyone with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. If your doctor thinks that a transplant is necessary or possible for you, he or she will discuss it with you in more detail. Bone marrow and stem cell transplants are still fairly new treatments and are generally carried out only in major cancer centres. The aim of this treatment is to give you a healthy source of bone marrow and to improve the chances of completely curing the disease.