Memorial Sloan-Kettering's stem cell transplantation program — the longest-standing such program nationally — includes (from left) James Young, Juliet Barker, and Ann Jakubowski.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center physicians have performed more than 4,000 autologous and allogeneic transplants over three decades and oversee transplants in close to 250 patients each year. Because of the expertise of our transplant team, our patients often have excellent results.
Since 1973, when Memorial Sloan-Kettering physicians performed the world's first successful transplant between a patient and an unrelated donor, our investigators have been at the forefront of research in stem cell transplantation and pioneered many of the approaches widely used today.
Physicians and laboratory researchers who specialize in stem cell transplantation here continually strive to improve the outcomes of patients who undergo transplants, to modify the procedure to reduce the possibility of complications, and to make transplants available to more people who could benefit.
At Memorial Sloan-Kettering, we understand that each patient's situation is unique, and that for many the prospect of a transplant can be overwhelming, as can the complications of their underlying disease. For that reason, we offer a broad range of resources — before, during, and after transplantation — to help each patient and his or her family meet these challenges.
Our Approach
The strengths of our transplant team include our specialization and knowledge, the advanced techniques we employ, and our unparalleled transplant nursing and supportive services.
It is our team approach to care that makes these advantages work effectively for our patients.
Patients undergoing transplantation at Memorial Sloan-Kettering are cared for by specialists who are expert in this procedure and its possible complications. Our transplant physicians and highly skilled nurses and nurse practitioners work closely with immunologists, gastroenterologists, kidney specialists, radiologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to assure that each patient's care is superlative, and addresses all aspects of his or her physical and psychological well-being.
Transplant patients here not only have access to the expertise of all transplant team members, and to our transplant nursing and supportive services, but to the leading-edge methods developed through collaborative efforts between clinicians and investigators in our laboratories.
Among the many widely adopted transplantation advances that have been developed by our transplant team are:
- Immune-cell (T cell) depletion, a method to prevent graft-versus-host disease
- The use of escalating doses of immune cells to prevent or treat relapses in transplanted patients with multiple myeloma or chronic myelogenous leukemia
- Hyperfractionated irradiation, a method of delivering radiation therapy that increases its anticancer effects while decreasing its side effects
- Improved methods to detect opportunistic infections in immune-compromised transplant patients
- Reduced-intensity chemotherapy regimens to safely treat older and sicker patients
- New regimens for cord blood transplantation
Our physicians offer each patient the transplantation approach most likely to result in a cure or improve survival. When there is a good chance for improved outcome, our doctors may suggest that a patient participate in a clinical trial — and many patients who undergo transplantation at Memorial Sloan-Kettering decide to do so. Learn more about our current clinical trials.
