Blood Stem Cell Transplants - National Cancer Institute

Preparing Donors for Allogeneic Transplants

Blood stem cells are extracted most often from the peripheral blood of donors and occasionally from their bone marrow. Because there are significantly fewer stem cells in peripheral blood than in bone marrow, doctors prepare peripheral blood donors by injecting them with a series of growth factors to move blood stem cells from their marrow into their bloodstream. This increases the blood stem cells concentration 10- to 100-fold in the blood.

If stem cells are harvested from bone marrow, the donor is placed under general anesthesia. In a procedure that takes about an hour, marrow is removed through a large needle inserted into the donor's pelvic bones, and it is processed to remove blood and bone fragments. After the collection is completed, the donor may be given a transfusion of his or her own red blood cells from units of blood that were self-donated a week earlier.

Apheresis: Harvesting Stem Cells From Peripheral Blood

Nurses harvest blood stem cells from a donor's peripheral blood using a process called apheresis. This process involves removal of whole blood from the donor. As blood is drawn from the donor, circulating stem cells (and sometimes mature immune cells) are extracted. A centrifuge-type machine then separates the components. The blood itself, minus the stem cells, is returned to the donor. Apheresis requires no anesthesia but can take several hours.

Blood Stem Cell Transplants - National Cancer Institute

The Blood & Marrow Transplant & Hematologic Malignancy Program Donor Guide

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