What is bone marrow donation?

 Bone marrow is a spongy matter found inside the bones. In this tissue are found the blood stem cells that have the ability to self-regenerate throughout life and produce white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.

There are people who suffer from disorders of these cells, they begin to divide and grow in an uncontrolled way, generating serious diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma. These diseases can be treated with a healthy bone marrow transplant.

Bone marrow transplantation can be obtained autologously, with the patient's own stem cells, or allogeneic, that is, with healthy stem cells from another person. Donation in Spain is a voluntary and altruistic act, those who wish to be donors must register in the official registry in Spain is the Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDMO).

Bone marrow donation

When obtaining stem cells is necessary to perform a transplant, a compatible donor must first be identified. The first options are usually relatives, parents and siblings. For this, compatibility is studied by analyzing the proteins found in cells, human leukocyte antigens. This test is done with a blood or saliva sample from both the donor and the patient. They are compared and a compatibility study is carried out.

Once the donor has been identified, some 15 or 20 days before the bone marrow aspiration, blood is drawn, approximately 1 liter, which will be stored and stored properly to perform an autotransfusion after the intervention.

The same day the process is performed, the donor will be anesthetized. This intervention, although it does not pose any danger to the donor, can be a bit painful. For this reason, it will be carried out under general or local anesthesia (epidural). To obtain the bone marrow, punctures are made on the posterior iliac ridges (the upper and posterior part of the hips).

Several punctures will be done until enough bone marrow is obtained. In each puncture, about 5 milliliters of blood are obtained from the bone marrow in which the stem cells or hematopoietic progenitors are found. The operation can last between 2 and 3 hours.

Once the necessary amount is obtained, a transfusion of his own blood is made to the donor. The amount of blood that has been aspirated is high and in this way certain side effects such as dizziness, fatigue, drop in blood pressure, etc. are avoided. Using your own blood helps stem cells regenerate more quickly.

The donor may feel discomfort in the area of the punctures for a few days, but these will gradually disappear. On the other hand, the donor must take an iron supplement for the next two months to strengthen their immune system.

The blood thus obtained can be immediately transplanted to the patient, frozen for later use, or the product manipulated to improve the transplant result. @ READ MORE Weight Loss


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