Haematopoietic cell transplantation – from its birth to the twenty-first century

Abstract

After more than 60 years of investigations into the use of allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation for treatment of otherwise fatal malignant and non-malignant blood disorders, this procedure has been transformed from one that was thought to be plagued with insurmountable difficulties to a standard therapy for many haematological diseases. How have these problems been overcome and how was this procedure extended to include patients who were too old or medically unfit to tolerate conventional, high-intensity transplant approaches?