Surely all of us know the importance of donating blood, especially in the summer, when it is usually most necessary. Perhaps many of you are already donors and share life on a regular basis. But there is another type of donation that we can make to help save lives altruistically: bone marrow donation.
If you are thinking of becoming a bone marrow donor, we explain what you have to do and what your commitment consists of so that you are perfectly informed before deciding. This is how you can help save lives through bone marrow donation.
Why is it necessary to donate bone marrow?
Bone marrow transplants are performed in the event that a patient suffers from leukemia or a blood disease that requires the replacement of diseased cells with others that come from a healthy donor. In order to carry out this transplant, it is necessary that there be immune compatibility: This is why siblings, who may share the genetic heritage from their parents, are the best donors.
However, this immunological compatibility only occurs in 25% of cases: hence it is so necessary to have a bank of donors among which to find a person who is compatible.
What is bone marrow donation?
Bone marrow donation consists of extraction of stem cells from the blood that are found in the innermost part of the bone, what we know as the marrow. All we need to be potential bone marrow donors is to have between 18 and 55 years old (although more donations are required from young people, between 18 and 35 years old) and be healthy.
We will not be able to donate if we suffer from cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled hypertension, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, any tumor, autoimmune or hematological disease, HIV or risk factor for HIV, risk factors for venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, history of ocular inflammatory disease or fibromyalgia , if we are receiving treatment with lithium or if we have platelets below 120,000 ml. You can see all restrictions in detail here.
bone marrow fully regenerates after having donated, so we can do it on different occasions, and it does not cause damage to the donor.
How is bone marrow donated?
The first thing we have to do is inform us fully about what it means to be a bone marrow donor. If you are thinking of doing so, we recommend that you visit the website of the Josep Carreras Foundation against leukemia. Once decided, we must contact the closest medical center where this type of extraction is performed, since it is not done in all hospitals, and from there they will give us an appointment to perform a first blood extraction (such as that of a traditional analysis) with which our compatibility is determined.
After performing this analysis we enter directly into the bone marrow donor bank, from where we will be required to make the donation if necessary. This can be a few days or after years, so we must be clear that it is a commitment to ourselves and to others.
Bone marrow donation is a altruistic and voluntary gesturefor which no remuneration is received (although the expenses derived from it are covered, such as travel) and we will not know who our marrow goes to.
Bone marrow extraction methods
If we are required as donors, the extraction can be done in two different ways depending on the needs of each patient:
- Cytopheresis donation or peripheral blood donation: We have previously explained that blood stem cells are found inside the bone. To make them come out and not make a puncture directly in the bone, the donor is given 4 or 5 subcutaneous injections of growth factor. These injections cause the stem cells to pass into the circulating blood and can be extracted through a needle. similar to that of a traditional blood draw. The blood is extracted from one of the veins of the donor’s arms, it passes through machines called “cell separators” that extract the stem cells from it, and the “excess” blood is returned to the patient through the other arm. This is a short-term outpatient procedure whose only side effects may be muscle or bone pain and little flu symptoms.
- Donation by puncture: this method is used in only 20% of cases and requires the donor to undergo general anesthesia and stay in for 24 hours. In puncture donation, several punctures are made in the back of the iliac crests (in the hip bone) and the bone marrow that will be donated is aspirated from them. Like all surgical interventions that require general anesthesia, it has the same risks, although it is a very safe intervention. It is usually longer (the puncture itself lasts between two and three hours) and the patient must be kept under observation. Side effects are usually some pain or discomfort at the puncture site.
After having donated bone marrow, the donor is suspended for one year in the case of having made a donation by puncture, or forever (unless the patient requires a new transfusion) in the case of donating with peripheral blood, for legal reasons. In any case, if one of our relatives requires a donation and we are compatible, it can be done without any problem.
In this link you can download the bone marrow donor guide of the Josep Carreras Foundation, where there is all the information that we may need if we are interested and here you can find the donation and reference centers by autonomous community. You also have the Marrow for Mateo website available, from where they promote bone marrow donation with sporting events.
This article was originally published by Lady Fitness in August 2016 and has been reviewed for republication.
More information | Josep Carreras Foundation against leukemia
Images | Unsplash, iStock
In Vitónica | World Blood Donor Day: Giving life is that simple