Treatment options
The doctors at Fred Hutch treat a wide range of blood disorders using the latest therapies with an eye to providing care to you as a whole person. We’ll clearly explain all your options, which treatment course we believe is best for you and why.
Depending on your particular diagnosis, treatment might include:
- Growth factors to stimulate blood cell production
- Steroids or other drugs to suppress your immune system
- Chemotherapy to destroy abnormal cells
- Transfusions to support you with healthy blood cells
- Gene therapy to replace or deactivate a disease-causing gene or to introduce a disease-fighting gene
- Immunotherapy to harness the power of your own immune system to fight disease
Learn More About Immunotherapy
Bleeding disorders like hemophilia may call for blood-component therapies, such as platelet transfusions or clotting factors. Diseases that involve clotting might require drugs that reduce the risk of clots forming.
Some conditions require a bone marrow transplant to replace your marrow stem cells with healthy ones. Doctors at the Fred Hutch Bone Marrow Transplant Program have performed more than 16,000 bone marrow transplants — more than any other institution in the world.
Learn More About Bone Marrow Transplant
Bone marrow
The soft, spongy material in the center of your bones that produces all your blood cells, such as white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.
Bone marrow transplant
The process of treating disease with high doses of chemotherapy, radiation therapy or both. Bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells are given after treatment to help the body make more blood cells.
The process of treating disease with high doses of chemotherapy, radiation therapy or both. Because this treatment destroys the bone marrow’s ability to produce blood cells, bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells are given after treatment to help the body make more blood cells.
Chemotherapy
Treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. It may be given alone or with other treatments.
Treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Chemotherapy may be given by mouth, injection, infusion or on the skin, depending on the type and stage of the cancer being treated. It may be given alone or with other treatments, such as surgery, radiation therapy or biologic therapy.
Gene
The functional and physical unit of heredity passed from parent to offspring. Genes are pieces of DNA, and most genes contain the information for making a specific protein.
Immunotherapy
A type of therapy that uses substances to stimulate or suppress the immune system to help the body fight cancer, infection and other diseases.
A therapy that uses substances to stimulate or suppress the immune system to help the body fight cancer, infection and other diseases. Some immunotherapies only target certain cells of the immune system. Others affect the immune system in a general way. Types of immunotherapy include cytokines, vaccines, bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and some monoclonal antibodies.
Platelet
A tiny, disc-shaped piece of a cell that is found in the blood and spleen. Platelets help form blood clots to slow or stop bleeding and to help wounds heal.
A tiny, disc-shaped piece of a cell that is found in the blood and spleen. Platelets are pieces of very large cells in the bone marrow called megakaryocytes. They help form blood clots to slow or stop bleeding and to help wounds heal. Having too many or too few platelets, or having platelets that do not work as they should, can cause problems. Checking the number of platelets in the blood may help diagnose certain diseases or conditions.
Stem cell
A cell from which other types of cells develop. For example, blood cells develop from blood-forming stem cells.
Steroid
A type of drug used to relieve swelling and inflammation. Some steroid drugs may also have antitumor effects.