Bone Marrow Transplant

There are three ways in which bone marrow is taken from the donor and transplanted into the recipient.

• Bone marrow is extracted under general anesthetic from the cavities in the hipbones. Using a needle and syringe, punctures are made through the sking over each hip, and the marrow is extracted from the pelvic bone cavity. The procedures takes up to two hours.

• The donor is given some shots to increase the production of peripheral stem cells in their blood, then blood is drawn through an IV from one arm, passed into a machine where the stem cells are extracted, and passed back into the donor's blood stream via an IV in the other arm.

• Blood from the umbilical cord of newborns which would have otherwise gone waste is collected and saved. Cord blood is rich in stem cells but low in volume. These transplants are mostly carried out in children whose volume needs are lower.