Sickle cell disease, a genetic disorder that affects red blood cells, causes significant health problems for children, which can worsen as they become adults and even shorten their lifespan. In recent years, bone marrow transplant (BMT), also known as stem cell transplant, has emerged as a potential curative approach for the disease. When a child with sickle cell disease undergoes a BMT, he or she receives healthy bone marrow that produces normal red blood cells. Niketa C. Shah, MD, chief of Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapies at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, shares more about this process for parents. Read more at cinj.org.
