Definition
Stem cell donation is a procedure used in leukemia (blood cancer) in which stem cells from a healthy donor are transferred to the patient to take over the production of healthy blood cells in the future. Before this can happen, the stem cells must be obtained from the donor’s body.
Procedure of stem cell donation
In order to successfully carry out a stem cell transfer, a suitable donor must be found in a first and complex step. For this purpose, typing campaigns are carried out at regular intervals. The probability that the exact characteristics of a potential donor fit the recipient is very low.
Thus approx. 14000 matches must be suitable, in order to be considered as donors. In order to be typed as a donor, blood is first taken.
Alternatively, a mouth swab can be taken with a cotton swab. However, due to the high costs involved, blood sampling is almost always used. If most of the components of the donor’s blood match those of the recipient, further blood samples are taken and further tests are carried out in a second step.
In some cases, complete matches are found, which then entitles the donor to a transplant. There are two different ways to obtain stem cells. One possibility is that the patient is injected with a drug.
This drug then releases the blood cell-producing cells, the so-called stem cells, from the bone marrow and flushes them into the peripheral blood. This blood is then taken from the donor and the stem cells are isolated. In the meantime, the recipient’s immune system is almost completely shut down by chemotherapy and radiation.
This is important so that the recipient’s body does not start an immunological counter-reaction to the transfused stem cells. During this time, the recipient is in complete isolation, as infection must be avoided at all costs. If his immune system is no longer working, the donor’s stem cells are transferred to him.
These immediately find a place in the bone marrow and start producing healthy blood. Another way of obtaining stem cells is bone marrow puncture. For this, the donor is admitted to hospital for about 5 days and under local anesthesia bone marrow is extracted from the iliac crest with a drill.
Here too, the stem cells are then isolated and can be transfused to the recipient after appropriate preparation. The bone marrow puncture is often more painful for the donor than the first method, but it is not associated with taking medication. The donor is released from work for the procedure, and the costs are covered by major transplant organizations, such as the DKMS, and by health insurance. In the course of the stem cell donation, the HLA is also determined in order to avoid rejection by the recipient.
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