How does a Mini BMT differ from a conventional BMT?
In 1998 GOSH became one of the first hospitals worldwide to successfully carry out Mini BMTs in children, representing a new breakthrough procedure suitable for some children who were not eligible for a conventional transplant procedure. Rather than killing off a child’s own bone marrow cells, a Mini BMT involves suppressing the child’s immune system so donated bone marrow cells are not rejected, but grow alongside the recipient’s bone marrow. The treatment is more easily tolerated by very sick children because the doses of chemotherapy needed are lower than in conventional or full BMT.