The only center in St. Louis where blood and marrow transplant recipients can be treated during the day and return home at night
Bone marrow, the spongy material found inside bones, is where most of the body's blood cells are developed and stored. A transplant may be needed when bone marrow stem cells, which produce other blood cells, are damaged by disease or by high doses of chemo or radiation needed to cure some cancers. The goal of a transplant is to transfuse healthy blood stem cells into the patient and restore healthy cell production and function.
In 2012, doctors with SLUCare Hematology, Oncology and Cellular Therapy opened St. Louis’ only Center for Outpatient Blood and Marrow Transplantation – a joint effort between SLUCare Physician Group and SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. This is the only center in the region where blood and marrow transplant recipients can be treated during the day and return home at night, provided they remain within a 30-minute drive of the center.
According to the National Marrow Donor Program, one-year patient survival rates in the program are higher than rates for most other treatment programs in the region.
Studies show most blood and marrow transplant patients today can be safely and effectively treated on an outpatient basis – without an overnight hospital stay.
The center delivers all the resources of an academic medical practice, including streamlined care from a team of doctors in various specialties, such as:
Conditions We Treat
In the Center for Outpatient Blood and Marrow Transplantation, we see patients with all types of blood cancers:
- Leukemia of all kinds, including AML, ALL, CLL, and CML
- Hodgkin lymphoma
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Myeloma
- Myelodysplastic syndromes
- Myeloproliferative neoplasms
Services We Offer
Our team accepts referrals from oncologists and primary care physicians for specialized treatment of blood cancers and consultations for bone marrow transplantation. We offer a multidisciplinary cutaneous lymphoma clinic, specializing in a rare subset of these cancers.
Other services include disease-specific testing (e.g., PET and CT scans, bone marrow aspiration and biopsy); organ function testing; financial, insurance and social work support; physical therapy; and specialized pharmacy care.
Ours is one of the only centers in the region to provide the full spectrum of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, including autologous and every subtype of allogeneic transplant, including matched sibling, unrelated donor, haploidentical donor, and cord blood. (Learn how to become a donor at bethematch.org.)
In our treatment center, patients and families will find a warm, welcoming environment, with a caring staff and facilities designed for comfort during treatment. Over the years, our team has been consistently recognized for high rates of patient satisfaction.
Physicians: Download Patient Referral Form
CAR-T Therapy: Teaching the body to find and fight cancer cells
SLUCare Hematology, Oncology and Cellular Therapy specialists now offer cutting-edge cancer treatments, such as CAR-T therapy for patients who meet certain criteria. This innovative, FDA-approved treatment option involves taking the patient's own immune cells, programming those cells to attack unique proteins on the surface of the cancer cells, and then reintroducing the cells into the patient's body to fight their specific cancer.
Patients who may qualify for CAR-T therapy at SLUCare include those with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including:
- Diffuse large B cell lymphoma
- Follicular lymphoma
- Mantle cell lymphoma
- Primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma
Unlike other treatments through the Center for Outpatient Blood and Marrow Transplantation, CAR-T therapy does require a hospital stay, followed by outpatient visits in the clinic. Your medical team for CAR-T therapy includes specialists in:
- Hematology, Oncology and Cellular Therapy
- Neurology
- Critical Care
- Emergency Medicine
Our team will closely monitor your progress in the weeks following your T-cell infusion. As your condition improves, you may be able to return home, go back to work, and resume normal activities.
You may need to return to our clinic for follow up visits, or we may be able to consult via telemedicine. If you see an oncologist in your local community, our team will work with that provider to coordinate follow-up care.
CAR-T therapy is one of the newest forms of cancer treatment available, and shows great promise for treating additional cancers in the future.
Promoting Future Therapies through Advanced Treatments, Clinical Trials
The Center for Outpatient for Blood and Marrow Transplantation provides a unique service to patients in the St. Louis region – patients who would otherwise be confined to a hospital room throughout their course of treatment. Yet we continue to explore new ways of improving treatment for patients with blood cancers. Our doctors actively engage in research for new therapies and participate in clinical trials to bring our patients the very latest advances in care.
See Our Current Clinical Trials
Our SLUCare Providers
Sagun Goyal, MD
Nabeel Rajeh, MD
Ranju Kunwor, MD
Our Location
SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital - West Pavilion
3655 Vista Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63110-2539
314-257-8510
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