How long from meeting a consultant for stem cell to harvesting of stem cells

SJC

We have a meeting in Birmingham QE in May, with the consultant for an Autologous stem cell transplant. My husband is currently having R-GDP. How soon after this meeting is it likely for my husband to have his cells harvested, and then how long after that for the transplant.

Rachel_LeadNurse

Dear SJC,

I'm Rachel- Lead Nurse in Patient Services at Anthony Nolan. Due to the clinical nature of your query I thought I would post some information that may help you with your query.

R-GDP can be used as both a treatment regimen for Lymphoma or something called a 'harvesting' regimen.

If the chemotherapy is being given with the aim of taking (harvesting) the recovered and boosted stem cells ready for the transplant then this is normally planned for 2-3 weeks after the treatment. The stem cells will be frozen (cryopreserved) once harvested and a plan made for when to return them, this is often dependent on the individual patients disease and whether they need some time to recover (put on weight etc) before going forward for the transplant.

If the chemotherapy is for treatment only of the lymphoma your husband is likely to have a scan after a couple of cycles of treatment to measure the impact of the chemotherapy and then a plan can be made to harvest the stem cells (as described above). A lot of the timescales will be dictated by the success of the initial treatment and how quickly the medical team want to proceed in getting your husband to transplant but I'd expect for harvesting to take place in the next couple of months.

Please do get in touch via our enquiries helpline or email if you have any further questions:
tel: 0303 303 0303
email: patientinfo@anthonynolan.org

Best wishes
Rachel

SJC

Thank you Rachel, yes he is awaiting stem cell transplant. We are in week 1 of his 3rd cycle, he's just had his pet scan and we are awaiting the results. We are having a meeting on Friday to discuss the results, and the next stage.