Stem Cell Donation

What are hematopoietic stem cells?

Blood stem cells are required in the treatment of tumor diseases of the hematopoietic system. After preparatory measures (e.g. administration of growth factors for bone marrow precursor cells), stem cells are released from the bone marrow into the blood. These peripheral stem cells can then be collected from human blood in a process called cell separation.

Procedure of the stem cell donation

In this procedure, which lasts up to 5 hours, your blood is fed into a cell separator under the addition of an anticoagulant (citrate). A centrifuge with a plastic centrifuge insert rotates in the cell separator. There the blood stem cells are enriched and then collected in a bag. The process ensures that a large proportion of the blood stem cells are collected and that all other blood components flow back almost completely into the donor's body. As a general rule, 1-3 stem cell aphereses on consecutive days are sufficient to obtain the required number of cells. Only disposables are used. A transmission of diseases is therefore not possible.