Transplantation of blood stem cells is only performed in specialized hospitals. Medical preparation of the patient is guided toward the type and stage of the disease. The goal is to eliminate the diseased hematopoietic stem cells and create the space for new ones. This happens either through chemotherapy and/or through whole-body radio-therapy. The new blood stem cells are administered intravenously similar to a blood transfusion.

The so-called "homing receptors" are responsible for the stem cells finding their way from the blood to the bone marrow. There they are supposed to multiply, and after two to four weeks build new red and white blood cells as well as blood platelets.

Afterward, the sustained healing success mainly depends on whether all former diseased blood stem cells of the patient have been destroyed.

The time factor plays an important role during transplantation: Because blood stem cells have a very short lifespan, harvesting and transplantion must be done so that the harvested cells are transplanted within 48-72 hours - even if the cells have to be transported over thousands of kilometers.