Infusion Center at 875 Blake Wilbur

Comfort

Receiving chemotherapy will never be fun, but at the Infusion Center we strive to make it as convenient and stress-free as possible.

There are different levels of chemotherapy stations, ranging from a "fast track" room for patients receiving simple injections, to comfortable chairs in a communal infusion area, to private rooms with beds for patients who need more peace and care. In addition, each station has it's own flat screen television to make passing the time more enjoyable while you're receiving treatment.

Large windows overlooking beautiful trees and landscaping fill the fast track and chair infusion stations with bright natural light. The Infusion Center also offers ample room for your family and friends to remain with you and provide support while you receive treatment.

Stanford apheresis services and indications

Apheresis is a general term which indicates the removal of plasma or a blood component by centrifugation using a highly automated Apheresis machine. The Apheresis Service at the Stanford Cancer Center offers scheduled appointments 7 days a week from 7:00am–5:30pm. There is also on-call coverage available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide services for patients requiring emergent procedures. We have a team of 10 dedicated, expert apheresis nurses who provide excellence in patient care for both adult and pediatric patients.

Apheresis therapeutic procedures

• Therapeutic Plasma Exchange (TPE) Therapy—for the treatment of Autoimmune Disorders such as Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP), Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), Myasthenia Gravis, Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, Goodpasture's Disease and Hyperviscosity Disease. TPE involves the removal of plasma for the purpose of depleting a disease mediator or auto antibodies and replacing removed plasma with 5% Albumin and/or FFP.
  
• Red Cell Exchange Therapy—indicated for the management of Sickle Cell Anemia, Acute Thalassemia and successfully used as an adjunct therapy for Falciparum Malaria. Large volumes of defective red blood cells are removed by mechanical centrifugation and removed cells are replaced with normal, leuko-reduced or washed red cells.
• Cell Depletions—rapid reductions of abnormally high platelet and/or white nonfunctioning cells to reduce the risk of blood clots, hemorrhage or cerebral events in patients with Acute or Chronic Leukemias.

Photopheresis

• A photoimmune therapy used for the treatment of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma, including Mycosis Fungoides and Sezary syndrome, Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD), and Lung Transplant Rejection in which collected lymphocytes are treated with a drug which is activated with ultraviolet light, which then results in immunemodulation.
  

Component collections

• Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) Collection—In support of our adult and pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Programs, the apheresis service collects peripheral blood stem cells which are then used in transplants to treat diseases such as Multiple Myeloma, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Hodgkin's Disease, Leukemia's, and selected solid tumors.
• The Stanford Kidney Transplant Program also uses PBSC collection in support of its induction of tolerance protocol. For this innovative treatment option kidney transplant is followed by PBSC transplant with the goal of inducing mixed chimerism and renal allograft tolerance.
• National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)—PBSC collection from registry donors who have been identified as an anonymous, unrelated match for a patient awaiting BMT at a transplant center somewhere in the world. The PBSCs are collected by our apheresis service, processed by the Stanford Cellular Therapeutics and Transplantation Laboratory, and taken by courier to the transplant center to be infused in the patient awaiting transplant.