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Blood and Marrow Transplant Center of Kansas

Cooperative with Cancer Center of Kansas and American Red Cross is an accredited transplant program

The Blood and Marrow Transplant Center of Kansas is a cooperative effort of Via Christi Hospital in Wichita, the Cancer Center of Kansas and the American Red Cross. The program began in 1989 and is accredited by the Southwest Oncology Group to participate in national clinical trials. The transplant program was the 11th in the country to be accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy, which sets the standards for transplant programs. The National Marrow Donor Program has certified the program as a regional apheresis center as well.

The program offers both inpatient and outpatient services through Via Christi Hospital St. Francis and the nearby Cancer Center of Kansas. Many patients have the majority of their care provided on an outpatient basis with family members trained as caregivers. The Center partners with local hotels for lodging of out-of-town patients.

Why would someone need a blood and bone marrow transplant?

Transplants are a treatment of choice for many diseases, including acute and chronic leukemia, bone marrow failures, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes and testicular cancers.

Autologous Transplant

In an autologous transplant, healthy bone marrow or stem cells (immature blood cells) are harvested from patients and frozen for future use. They receive high dose chemotherapy and/or total body irradiation to destroy their cancer cells and make room for new bone marrow cells to develop and grow.

Allogeneic Transplant

In an allogeneic transplant, the patient first receives this high-dose chemotherapy and/or total body irradiation followed by transplant of stem cells from a matched related sibling, which allows the patient's bone marrow to recover and begin producing healthy blood cells.