The procedure used to harvest blood and marrow is the same whether you are donating marrow for yourself, or someone else is your donor. 

The procedure is performed in the operating room under general anesthesia. The stem cells may be collected from the back or the front of the hip or the sternum with special needles. About 500-1,000 milliliters of marrow is removed.

The marrow is filtered, through special equipment that removes the fat and small pieces of bone. If you are donating the marrow, it is cryopreserved and stored for later use. The marrow is treated with a preservative and may also be cleaned with chemotherapy drugs.

The procedure usually takes between 1 and 2 hours, and is performed as an outpatient procedure. Following the procedure, you may feel stiff and sore in the hip area. Your doctor may recommend a mild pain medication. Some donors also report a mild sore throat from the breathing tube used during general anesthesia.

Peripheral Stem Cell Transplantation

In some cases, it may be possible to harvest stem cells from the bloodstream using a procedure called peripheral blood stem cell pheresis. 

To collect stem cells through this process, you will need to receive growth factor injections on a daily basis for several days prior to and during the procedure. This injection mobilizes the stem cells from your marrow to the bloodstream so they can be collected. These injections may cause some pain in your bones.

During the peripheral blood stem cell harvest, you will sit in a reclining chair with tubing connected to the central venous catheter. Blood is drawn into a pheresis machine, filtered to remove the stem cells, and then returned to your body. The procedure normally takes between 4 and 6 hours. It may be necessary to do this procedure once a day over a period of three to five days in order to collect enough stem cells for your transplant.

Side affects of the peripheral blood stem cell transplant are minimal. Patients sometimes feel cold or a sense of vibration from the anticoagulant that is mixed with the blood to keep cells from clotting during the procedure. Numbness and tingling in the lips and cramping of the hands and feet are also sometimes reported.

Tips that can help the procedure:

• Take your growth factor injections as directed.
• Eat calcium-rich foods to increase calcium intake the week before and the week in which the transplant takes place.
• Be sure to eat breakfast on the morning of the transplant.
• Bring a snack and some thing to entertain yourself during the procedure.
• Bring any pain medication or other medication you need to take during the day. You should discuss this with your doctor before the procedure.
• Talk with your transplant team members about any questions or concerns that you have.