UConn Health’s Carol and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center now provides blood and bone marrow transplants to patients in need. UConn Health Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant Program We started our service by hiring experts. Dr. Kapil S. Mereveduassistant professor of medicine and director of blood and bone marrow transplantation at UConn Health.
Merevidu’s expertise, experience, and in-depth fellowship training in blood and bone marrow transplantation at Mayo Clinic and University School of Medicine fellowship training in hematology and oncology made the new BMT program possible. He graduated from Calicut Medical College in India, majored in medicine and surgery, and completed his residency in the internal medicine program at Yale Bridgeport Hospital.
“This new blood and bone marrow transplant program will help meet the growing needs of our state’s residents, especially in the central Connecticut region,” Merevidu said. “Our new dedicated bone marrow transplant unit and skilled transplant team, comprised of hematologists, oncologists, advanced practice providers, nurses, clinical coordinators and quality coordinators, will be able to undertake complex and life-saving bone marrow transplants. It also protects the needs of immunosuppressed blood cancer patients.”
The state-of-the-art bone marrow transplant unit, part of the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, is located at UW John Dempsey Hospital. The unit houses his five dedicated patient rooms, which are high-tech and airflow specific, as well as isolation rooms for transplant care and patient monitoring.
Under Meleveedu’s leadership, the unit’s expert hematology-oncologists and skilled oncology nurses provide access to the necessary special examinations and tests, as well as psychosocial, palliative, dietary, and physical therapy support resources. We provide comprehensive care to our patients.
“UConn Health’s Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant Program is a large team effort that meets the individual needs of each patient. And for blood cancer patients, having treatment close to family and home is critical. .That’s why UConn Health is committed to caring for these patients in the community,” Meleveedu said.
The Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant Program initially cares for patients with life-saving blood cancers.homemade The transplant utilizes the power of your own blood stem cells. Once certified, the program will be expanded to offer allogeneic transplants, in which donated blood stem cells are transplanted from closely genetically matched family members or unrelated donors. Merevedu also looks forward to offering UConn Health patients in the near future CAR-T cell therapy, which helps strengthen patients’ own immune cells to find and fight blood cancers.
The autologous transplant process works by using a five-day drug therapy to dramatically increase the production of circulating hematopoietic progenitor cells, or blood stem cells, in the patient’s own bloodstream. An apheresis machine (similar to a dialysis machine) is then used to collect millions of these circulating blood stem cells. These blood stem cells must be frozen and made available for transplantation into patients through a simple intravenous infusion.
Then, in the days before the autologous transplant, patients receive very high doses of chemotherapy to destroy the cancer. An unavoidable side effect is that normal bone marrow cells are destroyed along with the cancer. The patient’s own transplanted cells are then used to replace the destroyed bone marrow cells, refreshing the immune system, reducing the chance of cancer recurrence and increasing overall survival. It has been used successfully for many blood cancers, including multiple myeloma and lymphoma.
