Mayo Clinic's approach
Mayo Clinic experts have extensive experience using bone marrow transplants to treat a variety of conditions, including cancers. Mayo Clinic offers bone marrow transplants for adults and children using their own cells (autologous transplant), cells from a donor (allogeneic transplant) or cells from an umbilical cord (cord blood transplant).
People who choose Mayo Clinic for their care receive comprehensive, compassionate and personalized attention from health care providers and staff who are committed to providing exactly the care they need. In addition, several support groups are offered at Mayo Clinic's campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota.
Teamwork
At Mayo Clinic, health care providers who specialize in blood diseases (hematologists) form a multidisciplinary team with other experts to provide personalized, whole-person care to adults and children undergoing bone marrow transplants.
Your transplant team may include hematologists, cancer specialists (oncologists), mental health specialists (psychologists and psychiatrists), a bone marrow transplant scheduling coordinator, transfusion medicine nurses, trained and specialized nurses, physician assistants, social workers, a nurse coordinator, a clinical nurse specialist, a dietitian, pharmacists, a chaplain and a child life specialist for children undergoing bone marrow transplant.
Children and adolescents undergoing bone marrow transplants receive care at the Children's Center at Mayo Clinic's campus in Minnesota. At Mayo Clinic's campus in Arizona, pediatric experts collaborate with the Phoenix Children's Hospital to provide care to young patients. Together the two oversee a single bone marrow transplant program for children. Pediatric patients receive care from Mayo Clinic specialists in Florida through a partnership with Nemours Children's Specialty Care and Wolfson Children's Hospital.
Working together
Mayo Clinic health care providers and staff collaborate to provide you with exactly the care you need.
Experience
Mayo Clinic specialists have extensive experience performing bone marrow transplants for adults and children with a variety of cancerous and noncancerous diseases. Mayo's physicians have performed more than 15,000 procedures since the program began in 1972.
Providing compassionate care
Mayo Clinic experts draw on their extensive experience to provide personalized care to people considering bone marrow transplant.
Bringing research advances to patient care
Mayo Clinic scientists are involved in cutting-edge research that allows them to apply the latest advances to patient care.
Innovations include:
- Haploidentical transplant. This type of transplant uses stem cells from donors who aren't perfect matches. Research is helping to bring understanding about how to reduce the risk of complications and improve recovery for people whose stem cell donors aren't perfect matches.
- Reduced-intensity conditioning. Using lower doses of chemotherapy and radiation before a transplant may allow older people and those who aren't healthy enough for conditioning to undergo bone marrow transplants.
- Cord blood transplant. This type of transplant is done using stored and frozen umbilical cord blood. There are fewer stem cells in cord blood, but those stem cells can grow more blood cells than can those collected from bone marrow. Using cells from cord blood reduces the risk of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Researchers are identifying the best ways to use cord blood for bone marrow transplants and finding new ways to track these cells after transplant.
- Expanding indications for bone marrow transplant. Researchers are studying ways to use this treatment for a wider variety of conditions, including complicated and rare diseases.
- New medication options. Mayo Clinic researchers study medications and treatments for people who have had bone marrow transplants, including new medications to help people stay healthy after a bone marrow transplant.
- Reduced time in the hospital. At Mayo Clinic, some bone marrow transplants are performed as hospital-based outpatient procedures, which reduces the amount of time spent in the hospital.
Nationally recognized expertise
Mayo Clinic bone marrow transplant specialists are respected for their knowledge, experience and expertise.
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and Mayo Clinic in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona, are ranked among the Best Hospitals for cancer by U.S. News & World Report.
The Mayo Clinic experience and patient stories
Our patients tell us that the quality of their interactions, our attention to detail and the efficiency of their visits mean health care like they've never experienced. See the stories of satisfied Mayo Clinic patients.
FISH testing helps detect unseen cancer cells
On the brink of losing her battle with acute myeloid leukemia, Shannon Camlek arrived at Mayo Clinic as a last hope. Her chances didn’t look good, but with the help of specialized genetic testing, particularly FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) studies, doctors were able to detect the specific gene mutations responsible for her symptoms and disease. The test results also helped Shannon’s care team target her treatment accordingly, and finally put an end to what…
No Place Like Home: David Elder's Post-Transplant Care a 'Blessing'
When David Elder’s back started to hurt in the fall of 2022, he thought his recurrent spasms had returned. But when medication didn’t help like before, his doctor sent him to the ER – and soon after, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a treatable but incurable form of cancer that had caused several painful breaks in his spine. “It just hit us out of nowhere,” he says of the diagnosis. “It was shocking.” Five…
Trust and timing: How a bone marrow transplant gave a man extra birthdays to celebrate
"I started writing my first book at the age of two. It's gonna be published at the age of four. Not bad for a little kid, huh?" But Dean Weitenhagen isn't a child prodigy with a five-year plan. He is a 70-year-old commercial real estate broker with a new lease on life — and a new "birthday" he celebrates — thanks to a lifesaving stem cell transplant for acute myeloid leukemia. Dean's new birthday, and his…
Expertise and rankings
Experience you can count on
Mayo Clinic specialists work together, combining their knowledge and experience in caring for people undergoing bone marrow transplant to provide the most effective care. This experience and expertise earns Mayo Clinic health care providers respect from colleagues around the world.
Each year, Mayo Clinic specialists diagnose and treat thousands of people who have blood or bone marrow disease, many of whom benefit from bone marrow transplant. Mayo Clinic's Bone Marrow Transplant Program is among the largest in the country.
Mayo Clinic is recognized for excellence in bone marrow transplant by national and international groups:
Learn more about Mayo Clinic's quality rankings.
Volumes and outcomes
Mayo Clinic specialists' experience and integrated team approach results in transplant outcomes that compare favorably with national averages. Teams work with transplant recipients before, during and after surgery to ensure the greatest likelihood of superior results.
Volumes and outcomes are maintained separately for the three Mayo Clinic locations. Taken together or separately, transplant recipients at Mayo Clinic enjoy excellent results.
Eligibility
If your bone marrow stops working or doesn't produce healthy stem cells, you may benefit from a bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow transplants are used to treat people whose stem cells have been damaged by disease or the treatment of a disease, or as a way to have the donor's immune system fight a blood disorder, such as leukemia.
Experts will determine whether a bone marrow transplant may be safe and beneficial for you. Your treatment team will explain the benefits and risks of a bone marrow transplant.
Your treatment team will also evaluate you to determine whether a bone marrow transplant or an alternative therapy may be the most appropriate treatment option for your condition.
Learn more about bone marrow transplant eligibility at Mayo Clinic.
Mayo Clinic Children's Center
Highly skilled pediatric experts diagnose and treat all types of conditions in children. As a team, we work together to find answers, set goals and develop a treatment plan tailored to your child's needs.
Learn more about the Children's Center.
Locations, travel and lodging
The Village at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, offers low-cost housing for transplant patients and their caregivers.
The Gabriel House of Care in Jacksonville, Florida, offers low-cost housing for transplant patients and their caregivers.
The Gift of Life Transplant House in Rochester, Minnesota, offers low-cost housing for transplant patients and their caregivers.
Mayo Clinic has major campuses in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; and Rochester, Minnesota. The Mayo Clinic Health System has dozens of locations in several states.
For more information on visiting Mayo Clinic, choose your location below:
Costs and insurance
Bone marrow transplant costs and insurance information
Mayo Clinic has dedicated transplant financial services representatives and social workers who can assist you with insurance and financial questions regarding your transplant.
Mayo Clinic works with hundreds of insurance companies and is an in-network provider for millions of people. In most cases, Mayo Clinic doesn't require a physician referral. Some insurers require referrals or may have additional requirements for certain medical care. Many insurance companies require you to get preapproval authorization prior to transplant services.
Insurance information
Before your transplant, it's important that you work closely with your insurance company to understand your benefit plan. You'll be responsible for any of your transplant and medical care costs not covered by your insurance company.
You may want to ask your insurance company several questions regarding your transplant expenses, including:
- What is the specific coverage of my plan? What are my deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, lifetime maximum amount and annual maximum amounts for both medical care and transplant services?
- Does my plan have a preexisting or waiting period clause? If so, what is the time frame? Can this be waived?
- Does my plan include pharmacy coverage? If so, will my plan cover my current medications and immunosuppressant medications?
- Does my plan require any special approvals for evaluation or transplant? How long does the approval process take once submitted to insurance?
- Does my plan cover my transportation and lodging expenses during my transplant care?
- Does my current insurance require enrollment in Medicare when eligible?
- Does my insurance follow Medicare Coordination of Benefits guidelines?
- How will my current coverage change after enrolling in Medicare? Will my plan become a supplemental or secondary plan?
If your plan is a Medicare supplement, ask questions including:
- Does my plan follow Medicare guidelines?
- Does my plan cover Medicare Part A and B deductible and coinsurance?
- Does my plan have a preexisting or waiting period? If so, what is the time frame?
- Does my plan offer an option for Medicare Part D coverage?
Other expenses
Please plan for other expenses that may occur related to your transplant, which may include follow-up medical appointments, long-term medications, caregiver expenses, travel, parking, lodging and other expenses.
If you have an allogeneic bone marrow transplant, your donor's transplant-related medical care may be paid by your insurance company.
For international patients
Mayo Clinic has dedicated international patient account representatives who can assist you with questions regarding your costs and insurance. Read more about international financial services.
Case managers
Mayo Clinic financial staff will work closely with your case managers from your insurance company. Your case manager, who is assigned to you, is available to answer questions and calls related to your insurance costs.
Clinical trials
Explore Mayo Clinic studies of tests and procedures to help prevent, detect, treat or manage conditions.