Skip to main content

On This Page

The University of Utah Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute and Primary Children's Hospital provides comprehensive, compassionate, state-of-the-art care for patients with these types of cancers:

  • Blood, including leukemia
  • Bone marrow
  • Lymph node, including lymphoma

Our experts treat adults and children with cancer, as well as non-cancerous conditions of the blood such as low blood counts and myeloproliferative disorders.

This program is a partnership between the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute and Intermountain Healthcare’s Primary Children’s Hospital. We are recognized by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapies (FACT), which means we meet the most comprehensive standards in the field, verified by peer-reviewed inspections.

Left to right: Huntsman Cancer Institute logo, Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapies (FACT) logo, Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital logo

Types of Blood & Marrow Transplant

Bone marrow/blood stem cell transplant is a procedure to replace blood-forming stem cells.

Stem cell transplant is a procedure to replace cells that produce blood. The patient receives high doses of chemotherapy, radiation, or both, to kill cancer cells and healthy cells in the bone marrow where blood is formed. The patient then receives new blood-forming stem cells through an IV. Healthy blood cells develop from the transplanted stem cells.

A stem cell transplant gives a patient healthy blood stem cells collected from the patient or a donor. The stem cells may be collected from blood or from bone marrow. The transplant replaces cancer cells in the patient’s bone marrow.

Here are some other names for stem cell transplant:

  • peripheral blood stem cell transplant
  • hematopoietic cell transplant

These are the two main types of stem cell transplant:

  1. Autologous—The transplant team collects and saves the patient’s own healthy stem cells. The patient gets high-dose chemotherapy to treat the disease. After the treatment, the patient gets the healthy stem cells back. Learn more about autologous stem cell transplant.
  2. Allogeneic—The patient gets high-dose chemotherapy and sometimes radiation to treat the disease. After the treatment, the patient gets stem cells from another person, called the donor, whose stem cells are the best match for the patient’s. Learn more about allogeneic stem cell transplant.

Our Specialists

Our specialists provide outstanding care for every stem cell transplant patient. The team includes these and other members:

  • physicians
  • nurses
  • medical assistants
  • scheduling coordinators
  • social workers
  • physical and occupational therapists

Meet Our Team

Related News and Stories