In most cases, chemotherapy or radiation therapy is needed before the transplant to help your child’s body accept the new healthy stem cells. In children with cancer, it is also important to destroy any cancer cells remaining in the body. During an autologous transplant, the child receives chemotherapy to destroy any remaining non-bone marrow cancer cells before their own blood stem cells are given back. For children with certain immunodeficiencies, intensive chemotherapy and radiation are not needed before the transplant. With one of the most experienced transplant teams in the world, MSK Kids will customize your child’s treatment before the transplant, using the approach with the fewest side effects while maintaining the therapy’s effectiveness. We are one of the leading centers investigating antibody-based conditioning approaches, which would allow us to do bone marrow transplants without chemotherapy or radiation. This would significantly lower short- and long-term side effects for the patient.