In fact, our team does an average of 30 to 35 stem cell transplants per year.

 

Bone marrow transplant places healthy stem cells into a child’s body to treat certain types of cancer such as leukemia, lymphoma, and neuroblastoma. Transplants can also cure numerous other disorders such as sickle cell disease, thalassemia, metabolic and immune diseases, and bone marrow failure syndromes.

 

Stem cells have the ability to restore healthy blood-forming cells to a child. Autologous transplantation allows doctors to administer higher doses of chemotherapy to eliminate cancer more effectively without causing prolonged bone marrow suppression. Infused healthy stem cells from the child’s body will repopulate the bone marrow.

 

When no autologous healthy cells are available, a matching donor is found in order to perform an allogeneic transplant, helping to suppress the disease and replace the child’s immune system with a healthy one.

 

Both procedures are analogous to planting a garden; we gather the stem cells like seeds and “plant” them back into the body. This replaces damaged stem cells with healthy ones that can repair a weakened immune system and reconstitute other cells that are needed in the blood.

 

Sometimes a parent or sibling is a match, but not always, making bone marrow transplantation in South Florida’s multinational, multicultural environment even more challenging. The key is the human leukocyte antigen (HLA), a protein system for immune recognition that is found on most of the body’s cells. After stem cells are donated, a cheek swab is used to determine if the candidate is a match. Once a match is located, the next step is peripheral withdrawal, in which we either use growth factor injections to stimulate stem cell production, or the bone marrow is harvested from the pelvic bone through ambulatory surgery.

 

According to Be The Match, a patient’s ethnic background is important in predicting the likelihood of finding a match. This is because HLA markers used in matching are inherited and some ethnic groups have more complex tissue types than others. So, a person’s best chance of finding a donor may be with someone of the same ethnic background. In spite of these issues in our multicultural community, our team at Nicklaus has achieved extraordinarily good outcomes.

 

Stem cell transplantation is a relatively new science. The first stem cell transplant, an allogeneic procedure, was performed by Nobel Laureate Dr. E. Donnall Thomas in 1957. The science was further perfected at the University of Minnesota and since that time, the field has continued to evolve and expand. Most recently, we have been able to extract immune effector cells, which we genetically modify to fight cancer. Moreover, we are using autologous genetic edited hematopoietic stem cells to correct diseases such as Adrenoleukodystrophy, Chronic Granulomatous Disease, and sickle cell disease.

 

Established in 1991, the Nicklaus Center is FACT- (Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy) accredited and continues to meet exceedingly high benchmarks in patient care and laboratory practices. In addition, KIDZ Medical Services is the leading provider of care to children and teenagers with cancer in South Florida. Our specialists are experts in the treatment of a variety of bone marrow-related and blood disorders, brain tumors, and other pediatric cancers and related disorders, in addition to non-cancerous conditions.

We stay on top of the latest medical data and research through our national research collaborations with other clinicians, institutions and through participation in international organizations such as Children’s Oncology Group, Be T*he Match, the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium, and the American Society of Transplant and Cellular Therapy.

 

We place our patients and families at the core of their treatment plan, and it is our life’s work to walk beside them on this journey.