Bone Marrow Transplant Program

The Blood & Marrow Transplant Program at Northside Hospital is one of the largest clinical transplant programs in the Southeast United States.  The Program serves patients undergoing bone marrow/stem cell transplant therapy and provides primary leukemia management.

 

This premier program has achieved national Center of Excellence awards from the major insurance managed-care companies. National accreditations include: 

Northside Hospital was the first community hospital in Georgia to perform unrelated-donor allogeneic bone marrow transplants.

 

The Bone Marrow Transplant Program offers:

The physicians at the Blood & Marrow Transplant Program are dedicated to providing leading-edge clinical treatment with a focus on the patient’s physical and emotional well-being. A physician referral is required; to schedule an initial consultation call (404) 255-1930.

Diseases Treated

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Diseases treatable with bone marrow transplantation include:

Accreditations

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Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations

A private, not-for-profit organization, JCAHO is the nation's principal standard settler and evaluator of a variety of healthcare organizations. JCAHO is dedicated to improving the safety and quality of care provided to the public. By implementing a data-driven, standards-based process, health care organizations design and continuously improve the delivery and quality of the health care services that they provide to their communities. Achieving and sustaining JCAHO accreditation communicates to the public that the organization is committed to the highest quality of care and services available and that customer satisfaction is their priority.

 

The Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapies (FACT)

The Blood & Marrow Transplant Group at Northside Hospital is the first program in Georgia to complete inspection and obtain full accreditation by FACT.

 

FACT is a nonprofit organization developed by physicians and scientists who are members of the International Society of Hematotherapy and Graft Engineering (ISHAGE) and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT).  FACT assesses and accredits facilities competent in the field of hematopoietic cell therapy.  Facilities seeking accreditation do so voluntarily, to demonstrate that they have met the minimum strict FACT standards of quality medical and laboratory practice.  These standards apply to all aspects of hematopoietic cell therapy, including clinical patient care, progenitor cell collection services and/or cell processing laboratory, and transplantation.  FACT applicants must complete a comprehensive self-assessment survey and undergo a thorough on-site inspection by experts trained and experienced in the portion of the program to which they are assigned.  FACT promotes the highest standards of patient care and safety, and preserves and fosters each institution's ability to perform research to advance the field of hematopoietic cell therapy.

 

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)

As both a transplant center and a donor collection center, The Blood Marrow Transplant Program at Northside Hospital is an accredited member of the National Marrow Donor Program.

 

NMDP is a nationwide registry with international relationships that works to facilitate unrelated marrow transplants for patients with life-threatening blood diseases.  More than nine million donors are on the registry.  The transplant coordinators at Northside Hospital communicate directly with the NMDP to identify potential donors and to coordinate the transplantation of collected donor marrow or stem cells.  As an accredited NMDP transplant center, Northside Hospital successfully meets the comprehensive criteria established by the NMDP for the transplant physical facility, the transplant team, administration, operating procedures and support services.  Northside Hospital, with the NMDP, helps people with diseases that are treatable with bone marrow transplantation, including leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma, aplastic anemia and other blood diseases.

 

There are more than 100 NMDP-designated transplant centers in the United States and only two adult programs in Georgia. 

 

Caitlin-Raymond International Bone Marrow Registries

Northside Hospital is listed as a comprehensive transplant center with the Caitlin-Raymond International Bone Marrow Registries for national and international donor access.

 

American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)

The Hematopoietic Stem Cell Processing Laboratory at Northside Hospital is accredited by the AABB.  The facility is the first in Georgia to be inspected by both the AABB and by FACT.  The Hemapheresis Program of the Atlanta Blood Center is also accredited by the AABB.

 

CLIA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

The Atlanta Blood Center is registered by the FDA and is licensed by CLIA.  Both the FDA and CLIA set strict criteria for quality control of human blood products.

The Physicians

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The transplant physicians at Northside Hospital are nationally recognized in the field of bone marrow/stem cell transplantation therapy.  Each physician has been active in the field for a decade or longer.  All of the physicians have been trained at and are on the faculty of prestigious academic programs that include the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Emory University School of Medicine.

 

All of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program physician members have completed rigorous one-year (or longer) specialty fellowship training in bone marrow/stem cell transplantation therapy at internationally-prestigious transplant programs; no other allogeneic/autologous stem cell transplant group within Georgia has earned that distinction. These physicians have led in the development of innovative therapies for leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and rare solid tumor and blood diseases. 

 

To learn more about the physicians at Northside Hospital’s Bone Marrow Transplant Program visit www.bmtga.com

 

Team Members

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Many core members of the Blood & Marrow Transplant Program have been working together as a transplant team since 1994. Team members include:

Locations

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The Blood & Marrow Transplant Program at Northside Hospital's facilities include:

Outpatient Clinic Facility 

This 10,000 square-foot facility is the only dedicated outpatient clinic in Georgia that cares exclusively for bone marrow/stem cell transplant and leukemia patients. The Outpatient Clinic is the only facility in Georgia that provides HEPA-filtered air in the patient care area, to reduce the transmission of airborne infections. The Treatment Center has a large and comfortable infusion center, private negative-pressure isolation rooms, an on-site pharmacy, examination rooms, procedure rooms, a family waiting area, and consultation/conference rooms. In addition to comfortable patient lounge chairs, five hospital beds are available for patients who require prolonged day care. Individual televisions with VCRs are provided at each patient station area. Weekend and holiday care is also provided at both BMT of Georgia and Northside Hospital Outpatient Infusion Center. Both facilities provide patient drop off areas and adjacent covered parking.

 

Hematopoietic Marrow/Stem Cell Processing Laboratory

State licensed and accredited by AABB and FACT, the entire 2,000 square-foot GMP Stem Cell Processing Laboratory, is HEPA filtered to reduce the transmission of airborne infections. The Laboratory’s experienced medical technologists perform autologous, allogeneic, and unrelated stem-cell processing, including CD34 + selection and adoptive immunotherapy procedures. State-of-the-art technology, including Isolex 300i and CliniMACS Systems, enables the CD34+ selection.

 

Blood Donor Center

Outpatient PBSC collections, therapeutic apheresis procedures and collection of blood components by automated methods are done at the Atlanta Blood Center’s 3,300 square-foot Patient and Donor Apheresis center. The Atlanta Blood Center has experienced apheresis personnel who perform outpatient PBSC collections, therapeutic apheresis procedures, and collection of blood components by automated methods.

 

Inpatient procedures (PBSC collections and therapeutic apheresis procedures) are done at Northside Hospital’s Blood Center. The Blood Center is FDA registered, CLIA licensed and accredited by FACT and AABB.

 

The Bone Marrow Transplant Inpatient Unit

Northside Hospital’s state-of-the-art Bone Marrow Transplant Inpatient Unit is the only transplant isolation unit in Georgia that provides universal HEPA air filtration in conjunction with strict isolation precautions to reduce the risk of airborne infections and nosocomially-transmitted infections. The Unit includes 17 private patient rooms, a family center, a conference room, an exercise treadmill, and staff/clinical areas. The nursing staff is well trained in the specialty of bone marrow/stem cell transplantation and leukemia therapy; the average nurse-to-patient ratio ranges from 1:1 to 1:3.  The Unit is open seven days a week and is staffed by attending transplant physicians and a multi-disciplinary team.