Blood and Marrow Transplant

Blood and Marrow Transplant at Children’s National: Why Choose Us?

Children’s National is one of the few programs with a team of dedicated bone marrow transplant physicians and advanced practice nurses. Our advanced knowledge allows us to deliver transplants with unparalleled expertise, even when your child is critically ill.

Highlights of our program include:

• Advanced treatments: We are one of few centers in the world offering extracorporeal photopheresis. This treatment helps children who experience dangerous post-transplant complications, such as graft vs. host disease. Read more about extracorporeal photopheresis.
• Gene therapy for sickle cell disease. Two types of gene therapy treatment were recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat – and potentially cure – sickle cell disease. The treatments are a new type of blood and marrow transplant that use a patient’s own stem cells (no donor is needed). Children’s National offers both FDA-approved treatments for sickle cell disease (for ages 12 and older): CASGEVY™ and LYFGENIA™.
• Comprehensive care: From pre-transplant education to outpatient follow-up care, we expertly deliver the full spectrum of care. This includes innovative therapies to prevent or treat relapse and viral infections. Learn more about cellular therapy treatment.
• Referral center: The level of care available at Children’s National gives your child the best chances for a good outcome. This is why parents from all over the region, country, and even other countries trust us to perform their child’s bone marrow transplant.
• Seamless care: Working side by side, specialists in every aspect of blood and bone marrow transplantation develop personalized treatments and seamlessly deliver them to your child. Meet the team.
• Research: As the region’s only dedicated pediatric National Marrow Donor Program transplant center and a participating center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded BMT Clinical Trials Network, Children’s provides patients with access to national clinical trials. In fact, our physicians lead a number of the trials. We also participate in the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research and the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium, working with international colleagues to improve treatment and quality of life for transplant patients.

Blood and Marrow Transplant Using Any Stem Cell Source

A blood or bone marrow transplant replaces damaged tissue or blood-forming cells with healthy, immature donor cells (stem cells). Your child must receive stem cells that closely match his or her special genetic makeup. The donor³ is often a sibling or other family member. However, some children are hard to match, which can delay their treatment. We’ve created a step-by-step guide to give you an in-depth look at the transplant process: from diagnosis to treatment to long-term care.

Part of what makes our program special is our success in working with any stem cell source. Through research and clinical trials, we are exploring additional stem cell sources. In fact, we are one of few programs in the country offering a trial for transplants using a biological parent’s donor cells (half matched donor).

Post-Transplant Care

When your child receives a blood or bone marrow transplant, the care he or she receives in the weeks following this procedure is nearly as important as the transplant itself.

Children’s National, ensures the success of your child’s transplant by:

• Protecting your child from infection: Your child stays in a private, high-efficiency particulate arrestance (HEPA)-filtered isolation room. This gives your child the highest level of protection from infection.
• Focusing on all of your child’s needs: Care at Children’s includes support for your child’s social and emotional well-being. This is especially helpful for children who have difficulty being isolated after their transplant. Our resources for families include help keeping up with schoolwork, bedside entertainment, and spiritual support.
• Performing round-the-clock monitoring: Experienced bone marrow transplant nurses deliver round-the-clock care. This includes meticulous attention to detecting complications, such as infections and graft vs. host disease, in their earliest stages.
• Delivering outpatient care in a dedicated clinic: After your child goes home, he or she receives follow up care in our brand new bone marrow transplant outpatient clinic.