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The fear of donating bone marrow results from ignorance and ignorance of the principles of bone marrow transplantation. Here you will find answers to your questions.
Collection of stem cells from peripheral blood
The method used in about 80 percent. of donors is to collect stem cells from the peripheral blood.
In this method, the donor receives a growth factor (a hormone-like substance) subcutaneously for a period of 5 days (e.g. administered by a home doctor or the donor himself – after appropriate training, or by a health visitor). This substance, called G-CSF, is produced by the body with every infection and has been able to be synthesized in a laboratory for years. It works by releasing the stem cells, mainly in the bone marrow, into the bloodstream. After the administration of the substance is completed stem cells can be selected from blood in the clinic using a special method (apheresis), similar to the collection of thrombocytes. Both arms are equipped with intravenous lines (venules are driven into the veins around the elbow). Blood flows from one arm through the so-called cell separator and returns with the second entry to the body. In the separator, stem cells are separated from the rest of the blood under the action of centrifugal force and collected for transplant. This is done on a maximum of two consecutive days at the collection clinic. The donor does not require a stationary stay and can stay overnight in a hotel.
The removal of stem cells from peripheral blood requires subcutaneous injection of the donor over a period of five days with a hormone-like substance (similar to insulin in people with diabetes). The injection can be made by the home doctor, but also by the donor himself – after appropriate training. The actual stem cell collection procedure takes place in a clinic or hospital adapted for this purpose and lasts about 3-4 hours. You may also need a second download the next day.
Bone marrow collection
Based on this method needed stem cells are collected from the donor under full anesthesia using a needle from the back of the hip bone. As part of the entire procedure, it is necessary to make two small incisions or several punctures, the healing process of which is usually very quick. The download process takes approximately 60 minutes. During it, about one liter of a mixture consisting of blood and bone marrow is taken. This amount corresponds to about 5 percent. total bone marrow volume, which will recover in healthy people in up to two weeks. The donor is usually admitted to the clinic the day before the collection, remains on the day of collection for observation, and on the third day he is released home. The procedure itself takes about an hour.
Also read: Who can become a bone marrow donor?
What should you know about bone marrow donation?
- How have the standards of bone marrow collection and donation care changed over the last 10 years?
In Poland, the law has changed in favor of donors who now receive the title of «Transplant Donors«, A badge and a card which, for example, entitles you to skip-the-line outpatient health care. Centers that collected cells were also obliged to care for donors. The downloading techniques themselves have not changed during this time.
- Why has the method of separation displaced de facto the collection of marrow from the iliac plate?
First of all, because it does not require general anesthesia and hospitalization. Moreover, it is important to restore the recipient’s hematopoiesis after administration of cells collected from peripheral blood. The separation method is faster and thus the recipient has fewer complications. So there are benefits for both the donor and the recipient. But in children, the bone marrow is still preferred.
- Have the methods / methods of preparing / processing bone marrow for transplant changed?
No, cell preparation did not change significantly during this time.
- Is it possible – according to scientific reports – to replace human marrow with some other substance produced outside the human body in the future?
Not. Instead, it is possible to replace bone marrow transplantation with other methods that are less toxic, as happened in chronic myeloid leukemia.
- In which diseases, apart from leukemia, bone marrow transplantation is performed?
In bone marrow aplasia, congenital diseases of the hematopoietic system, lymphomas, including myeloma, primary myelofibrosis, as well as in autoimmune diseases, but here only autologous.
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