Understanding Your Treatment Options

When you face a life-threatening disease, learning about your treatment options can help you make informed choices about your health care. The treatment your doctor recommends will depend on your diagnosis, your disease status and other health factors specific to you.

The first step in learning about your treatment options is to ask your doctor questions. You may also want to talk to other doctors (get a second opinion). Different doctors may recommend different treatments. You can gather information from books, articles, the Internet and other people. Then you can discuss this information with your doctor.

Learn about transplant and other treatment options

• What is a bone marrow or cord blood transplant?
• What other treatment options do I have?
• What are clinical trials and how do I find one?
• What are recent advances in transplants and how well do transplants work?
• Is a reduced-intensity transplant or cord blood transplant an option for me?
• When might transplant be an option for me?
• What do I need to know about understanding survival outcomes data?
• How can I sort through my options to make a treatment decision (PDF)?

Get help from the NMDP

• Inside the United States, call 1 (888) 999-6743. This call is toll-free in the United States.
• Outside the United States, call 1 (612) 627-8140. This call may have long-distance or international charges.
• You can also send an e-mail message to patientinfo@nmdp.org.

Interpreters are available