Can leukemia be treated with a bone marrow transplant?

Can leukemia be treated with a bone marrow transplant?

Noam Z. Drazin (Hematologist & Oncologist, Cedars-Sinai Medical Group) gives expert video advice on: Can my leukemia be treated with surgery?; Can leukemia be treated with a bone marrow transplant?; How can I keep my leukemia from coming back? and more...

Bone marrow transplantation, or stem cell transplantation is used to treat acute leukemias as well as some chronic leukemias. The differentiation over the reason to use bone marrow transplant instead of chemotherapy to treat leukaemia is a very specialized treatment decision that's made on a case-by-case basis. But in general terms, any case of leukaemia that's not responsive to standard therapies will be treated with bone marrow transplant. Standard chemotherapy usually involves bone marrow stem cell transplant. Some cases of leukaemia that require it from the get-go get bone marrow transplant therapy up front.