These conditions are not cancer themselves but are associated with an increased risk of developing bone marrow cancer—approximately 1% and 10% increased risk per year, respectively.

Estrogen receptor positive breast cancer is the most common form of the disease, and cancer cells of this kind can live for years -- or even decades -- in bone marrow after remission.

Bone marrow transplants, long a mainstay of blood cancer treatment, are becoming less common as more turn to alternatives like CAR-T therapy. Skip to Main Content. Manage alerts for this article; ...