Overview

Overview

The mission of the Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program in the Taussig Cancer Institute is to provide high quality specialized patient care in a setting of education and research.

The entire BMT staff embraces the values of initiative, innovation, collaboration, confidentiality, empathy and integrity.

What We Treat

Cleveland Clinic performs bone marrow/peripheral blood stem cells/umbilical cord blood transplants for disorders including:

Cellular Therapy

Cleveland Clinic is an authorized treatment center for several chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies including:

To refer a patient, please call 216.445.5600.

For more information about CAR T-Cell Therapy, please refer to the below resources:

Blood and Marrow Transplant Floor

The Blood and Marrow Transplant and Leukemia floors have units that are designed for patients with lengthy stays and compromised immune systems.

The 44-bed, 25,000 sq. ft. floor features several elements specifically for an immune-compromised patient population, including a centralized air-handling system that filters all of the air on the floor every minute, removing 99.98 percent of potential pollutants. Dedicated restrooms, showers and kitchenettes for family members also help protect patients' health, while amenities like wireless Internet, flat screen TVs with built-in DVD players, and large picture windows in every room help ease the burden of enduring the 3 to 6 week average stay for patients and their families.

Other features of the floor include:

  • All rooms are private.
  • Small sofas or reclining chairs for family/visitors.
  • Exercise room and nutrition room.
  • Fully wired for telemetry to monitor patients.
  • A washer and dryer for family use.

Accreditations

Blood and Marrow Transplant | Accreditations

  • Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT)
    As a patient, FACT accreditation can assure you that the health care organization you choose is committed to quality patient care. Learn More

Blood and Marrow Transplant | Associations

  • Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMTCTN)
    The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program collaborates with the BMT Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN). BMT CTN was established because of a critical need for multi-institutional clinical trials focused directly on improving survival for patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Learn More
  • Center for International Blood and Marrow Research (CIBMTR)
    The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) collaborates with the global scientific community to advance hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and cellular therapy research worldwide. Learn More
  • National Marrow Donor Program - Be the Match®
    Our program has been an NMDP transplant center since December 1988. These statistics can help you understand the differences among transplant centers. Learn More
  • Radiation Injury Treatment Network (RITN)
    The RITN was developed to respond to a potential disaster resulting in mass casualties with marrow toxic injuries from ionizing radiation exposure or other hazardous material. Learn More
  • Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG)
    SWOG is a cancer research cooperative group that designs and conducts multidisciplinary clinical trials to improve the practice of medicine in preventing, detecting, and treating cancer, and to enhance the quality of life for cancer survivors. Learn More

Progenitor Cell Processing Laboratory | Accreditations

  • College of American Pathologists (CAP)
    The leading organization of board-certified pathologists fosters and advocates excellence in pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. Learn More
  • Clinical Laboratories Improvement Amendment (CLIA)
    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulates all laboratory testing (except research) performed on humans in the U.S. through the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). Learn More

Allogen Laboratories | Accreditations

  • American Society for Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics (ASHI)
    The American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics is an international society of professionals dedicated to advancing the science, education, and application of immunogenetics and transplant immunology. Learn More

Blood Bank | Accreditations

  • American Association of Blood Banks (AABB). AABB advances the practice and standards of transfusion medicine and cellular therapies to optimize patient and donor care and safety. Learn More
Patient Education

Patient Education

Match meeting for allogeneic transplant

The patient education materials below should be reviewed before your Match Meeting with your BMT physician.

Allogeneic transplant

"I am getting someone else’s cells."

This patient education guide is comprehensive, including information about the different types of allogeneic transplants. Individualized treatment plans specific to your type of transplant will be provided by your care team.

Autologous transplant

"I am getting my own cells."

This patient education guide is comprehensive, including information about the different types of autologous transplants. Individualized treatment plans specific to your type of transplant will be provided by your care team.

Patient education videos

These Be The Match patient experience videos can help you understand what to expect before, during and after a blood or marrow transplant. Please remember that no two persons have the same transplant journey. Your unique experience depends on many factors including type of transplant, overall health and disease status. Your BMT team will be there to guide you through every step. Note: Videos will open in a new window or tab.

Basics of blood and marrow transplant

Getting ready for transplant

Transplant day

Recovery after transplant

Being a transplant caregiver

Support Services

Support Services

Psychosocial support and services are provided to all patients, families, and care-partners facing the impact of their cancer diagnosis and blood and marrow transplant. Support is provided by a licensed clinical social worker who will follow you and your support persons throughout the BMT process. BMT social workers are an integral part of your health care team and they work with other Cleveland Clinic specialists to contribute to your over BMT treatment plan.

Blood and Marrow Support Programs Include:

Our Team

Our Team

Cleveland Clinic's Blood and Marrow Transplant Team at offers comprehensive care prior to, during, and following your transplant procedure.

We are specially trained in meeting the needs of blood and marrow transplant patients, ensuring that their transplant procedure goes as smoothly as possible, in a compassionate setting.

Faiz Anwer, MD
Faiz Anwer, MD
Staff
Paolo Caimi, MD
Paolo Caimi, MD
Associate Director, Cellular Therapy
Robert Dean, MD
Robert Dean, MD
Staff
Aaron Gerds, MD
Aaron Gerds, MD
Staff
Betty Hamilton, MD
Betty Hamilton, MD
Associate Director of Blood & Marrow Transplant Program
Brian T. Hill, MD, PhD
Brian T. Hill, MD, PhD
Staff Physician
Deepa Jagadeesh, MD
Deepa Jagadeesh, MD
Staff
Matt Kalaycio, MD
Matt Kalaycio, MD
Staff
Jack Khouri, MD
Jack Khouri, MD
Staff
Brad Pohlman, MD
Brad Pohlman, MD
Vice Chair, Operations
Craig Sauter, MD
Craig Sauter, MD
Director, Blood and Marrow Transplant Program
Ronald Sobecks, MD
Ronald Sobecks, MD
Quality Review Officer
Louis Williams, MD
Louis Williams, MD
Associate Staff
Allison Winter, MD
Allison Winter, MD
Staff
Aiwen Zhang, PhD
Aiwen Zhang, PhD
Director of Allogen Laboratory

Advanced practice providers

Throughout your transplant experience, you will be cared for by Advanced Practice Providers who play an active role in collaborating with your physician to perform physical exams, review your treatment plan, and monitor your laboratory and radiology results. Advanced Practice Providers are essential members of the blood and marrow transplant team who are responsible for providing you with supportive care while focusing on your quality of life and symptom management.

Pharmacy

The pharmacy department is actively involved throughout the entire transplant process. Our team includes transplant specialty pharmacists, the chemotherapy satellite pharmacy, and our hospital pharmacy. Our outpatient pharmacist meets with patients prior to transplant to ensure an accurate medication list. This is used to look for drug interactions with other medications used during the transplant, including chemotherapy. These pharmacists may also see select patients following transplant. Our inpatient pharmacist helps manage drug therapy during the admission and provides medication education throughout your stay and at discharge. Both transplant pharmacists are committed to ensuring that you understand your medications and are available to answer drug-related questions.

Nursing

Cleveland Clinic has been distinguished as a Magnet Status Hospital since 2003. To achieve Magnet status, Cleveland Clinic underwent an extensive review and systematic evaluation of its nursing practice by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). This involved the review of thousands of pages of documentation, and a five-day site visit by ANCC professionals who evaluated Cleveland Clinic against more than 65 stringent quantitative and qualitative standards that epitomize excellence in nursing services, clinical outcomes and patient care delivery. Cleveland Clinic must continue to pass annual reviews as part of its four-year designation.

Social work

A social worker will be assigned to you and your family and will discuss any concerns you may have about your transplant or your personal situation. Your social worker will be a primary source of support during the transplant process. Social workers provide education, counseling regarding lifestyle changes and coping with treatment demands, referrals to community or national agencies and support groups, help with local lodging needs, and any other assistance you or your family may need.

Survivorship Clinic

Survivorship Clinic

The Cleveland Clinic Blood and Marrow Transplant Program welcomes you to the Victor Fazio, MD BMT Cancer Survivorship Clinic. This program is dedicated to maintaining your routine health and education, screening, prevention and treatment of long-term side effects of your transplant.

You will be seen in the Survivorship Clinic post-transplant at approximately day 100 and 1 year. You may also be seen at 6 months, if needed.

This is another opportunity to become an active participant in your long term health and general well-being and we are excited to be a part of your journey!

Day 100 visit

You will meet with a nurse practitioner for a full history and physical exam. This will include full assessment of your skin and your range of motion. Photographs may be taken for your medical chart.

You will also receive a treatment summary of your transplant care. The treatment summary is for you and may be shared with other members of your care team including your primary care provider.

At this time a plan of care is also provided to you, including an immunization schedule. This will include testing that will need to be done in the future, who will assist you in having the testing done and when it should take place.

One year visit

This visit is to assess for long-term side effects of the transplant. You will need to see multiple providers and having testing in the cancer center and in other departments. Because this is a comprehensive assessment, appointments may need to occur over 2-3 days.

Once all testing and appointments are complete you will be provided a summary of the results and survivorship recommendations.

This testing may include:

  • History and physical exam.
  • Pulmonary Function testing (checking lung health).
  • Bone Density (checking bone health).
  • Mammogram (if needed).
  • Gynecology appointment (evaluate for graft-versus-host disease and pelvic exam).
  • Fasting labs will include cholesterol, liver, kidneys, complete blood counts and endocrine screening for diabetes and thyroid function.
  • Ophthalmology appointment (evaluate for graft-versus-host disease and post treatment changes).
  • Meeting with the BMT survivorship team (which may include physician, nurse practitioner and/or social worker).
  • Additional testing and/or visits with other specialty physicians, if needed.

Managing side effects

Find helpful information from our Health Library to help you manage the side effects of your transplant.

Chronic graft versus host disease (GvHD)

Graft versus host disease (GvHD) is a condition that might occur after an allogeneic transplant. In GvHD, the donated bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells view the recipient's body as foreign, and the donated cells/bone marrow attack the body. 

Donate Blood & Marrow Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials

Our Blood and Marrow Transplant Program is recognized as a leader in the field of blood and marrow transplant and patients are referred to us because of our clinical excellence and advanced treatment protocols. Our objective is to have research trials available for most clinical situations to meet the needs of our patients. Our record shows that we are committed to reduce transplant toxicities and improve patient outcomes.

Clinical trials (or research studies) help us create the medicine of tomorrow. They provide hope through offering testing of new drugs, new surgical techniques or other treatments before they are widely available.

We can help you access hundreds of clinical trials across all specialty areas. Our new searchable online trials tool makes identifying treatment opportunities easier than ever.