Today is my second birthday, said George Schwartz, 70.
Schwartz was celebrating after undergoing an adult blood stem cell transplant at the University of Miamis Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center about 10 days ago. Schwartz had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer that targets the blood cells in the bone marrow, about a year and a half ago.
Adult blood stem cell transplants allow for healthy blood cell production after a patient receives high doses of chemotherapy.
I got a second chance of life back, Schwartz said, hours after his transplant. He was the 200th patient to receive a transplant in the 2-year-old inpatient unit.
The Adult Stem Cell Transplant Program at Sylvester treats people with acute and chronic leukemia and multiple myeloma, cancers of the blood. In multiple myeloma, abnormal plasma cells called myeloma cells multiply in the bone marrow. When the cancerous cells multiply, the result is fewer healthy blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
Dr. Krishna Komanduri, director of UMs Adult Stem Cell Transplant program, has directed the program, established in 1992, since 2008. Before that, he spent nearly a decade at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
At Sylvester, Komanduri works to find novel therapies and transplants.
Blood stem cell transplants are the preferred therapy, he said, stressing the program does not work with embryonic stem cells, but adult stem cells.
Adult blood stem cells are coaxed out of a patients or donors bone marrow into the bloodstream with medication, and then are removed. Once the stem cells have been removed from the body, the patient can receive high doses of chemotherapy, without destroying the stem cells.
After the chemo has worn off, the stem cells are transfused back into the patient through an IV, which allows the bone marrows blood cell production to recover more quickly.
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Stem cell transplant aids blood cell recovery