Bone marrow donation, or bone marrow harvesting, is the procedure healthcare providers use to obtain blood-forming cells (stem cells) for bone marrow transplant. Donating bone marrow doesn’t hurt and may cure someone who has blood cancer or a blood disorder. Anyone can volunteer to donate bone marrow, but all donors must meet certain health requirements.
Bone marrow donation, or bone marrow harvesting, is the procedure healthcare providers use to obtain blood-forming cells (stem cells) for stem cell transplant (bone marrow transplant). The bone marrow donation process begins when someone agrees to donate bone marrow. Donating bone marrow doesn’t hurt and may cure someone who has blood cancer or a blood disorder. To do the procedure, healthcare providers use large hollow needles that pull bone marrow from donors’ hips (pelvic bones). Anyone can volunteer to donate bone marrow, but all donors must meet certain health requirements.
Bone marrow donation is one of three ways healthcare providers obtain healthy stem cells. Most stem cell transplants involve peripheral stem cell or cord blood transplants. Peripheral stem cells are immature stem cells in your bloodstream. Cord blood comes from umbilical cords. People who have recently given birth can choose to donate their umbilical cord blood afterward.
People in need can receive donated bone marrow from family members (related donors) or from people they don’t know (unrelated donors). According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, 20% of related donor transplants and 14% of unrelated donor transplants completed in 2020 were bone marrow transplants.
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Your bone marrow is the soft and spongy liquid tissue in the center of some of your bones. Every day, your bone marrow makes more than 200 billion new blood cells, including red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Bone marrow transplants may help people who have certain diseases, such as the blood disorder aplastic anemia or a blood cancer such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In a bone marrow transplant, stem cells from healthy bone marrow replace unhealthy bone marrow.
Each year, about 18,000 people learn they have a bone marrow disease that a bone marrow transplant or other stem cell transplant could cure.
The challenge is finding a match. The best possible match is a healthy donor who has human leukocyte antigens (HLA) that are a close match to the person needing the bone marrow transplant. HLA are blood proteins. Healthcare providers identify HLA by comparing results of blood tests done on prospective donors and recipients. This is HLA typing.
To find good matches between donors and recipients, providers evaluate donor stem cells for antigens that match recipients. High numbers of matching antigens help the donated stem cells produce new blood cells to replace the unhealthy blood cells.
About 30% of all people who need a transplant find a matching donor from someone in their immediate family. The remaining 70% rely on finding matching donors from someone other than a close family member.
Yes, it does. There’s a link between race and matching bone marrow. Certain genes manage immunity. Those genes may be different based on race or ethnicity. Fewer people of color donate bone marrow, limiting the number of people who can receive donated bone marrow.
For example, the Be the Match© registry in 2021 had more than 9 million bone marrow donors. A person who is white who needed a bone marrow transplant had a 79% chance of finding a donor.
In comparison, a person who is Black who needs a bone marrow transplant has a 29% chance of finding a donor. Healthcare and transplant organizations are working to increase the number of bone marrow and other stem cell donors from groups of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
In the U.S., the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) keeps a registry of potential donors. You can join the registry by:
Many things may disqualify you from donating bone marrow. For example, people age 60 and older can’t be donors. Transplant organizations set this age limit because many people develop medical conditions as they grow older that could disqualify them as donors. Medical conditions that disqualify potential donors include:
This list represents just a few of the reasons why you may not be able to donate bone marrow. If you want to donate bone marrow but aren’t sure you’ll qualify, talk to a healthcare provider. They can review the medical guidelines and your health history.
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Healthcare providers will do a final check of your overall health. They’ll give you information about preparing to have general anesthesia. They may do tests to confirm you can donate bone marrow.
Blood tests may include:
You may have tests for:
Additional tests may include:
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You may have the following side effects right after donating bone marrow:
Healthcare providers filter your donated bone marrow to remove any fat or bone particles. Your donated bone marrow is processed in a laboratory so it can be infused into the person receiving the donation.
Most donors recover completely after donating bone marrow. It’s important to remember that bone marrow donations are surgical procedures that carry the following potential risks:
The greatest benefit is the knowledge that your bone marrow donation may save a life. The life you may save could be a family member, friend or someone you don’t know and may never meet.
Most donors can get back to work or other normal activities after resting for a few days. It can take a few weeks before donors completely recover from donating bone marrow. During your recovery, you may have the following side effects:
Contact a healthcare provider if you have symptoms that might be signs of infection. Symptoms may include fever and tenderness or redness in the spot on your hip where your healthcare provider inserted a needle to withdraw bone marrow.
Yes, but those meetings only happen when both donor and recipient want to meet. Healthcare and transplant organizations that coordinate bone marrow donations also facilitate donor and recipient meetings.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Even though millions of people in the U.S. register to donate bone marrow, there’s always a need for more donors. For bone marrow transplants to work, the match between donor and recipient needs to be as close as possible. The more people who register to donate, the better the chance someone struggling with life-threatening blood cancer or a blood disorder will receive a transplant. If you’re interested in learning more about donating bone marrow, talk to a healthcare provider. You may also contact the National Marrow Donation Program by calling 1.800.MARROW2.
Last reviewed on 10/27/2022.
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Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy