What is PBSC donation?

70% of the time donors are asked to give stem cells through their blood using a method called Peripheral Blood Stem Cell donation or PBSC for short. To increase the number of blood-forming cells in the bloodstream, donors receive daily injections of a drug called filgrastim for five days before the collection.

While lying in bed with your arms at your sides your blood is then removed through a sterile needle in one arm and passed through a machine that separates out the blood-forming cells. This process is similar to donating plasma. The remaining blood is returned to you. It will probably take at least two harvesting sessions, with each lasting several hours to harvest the required number of stem cells. You can even watch tv or a movie while the harvest takes place.

Possible side effects include: Headache or bone or muscle aches for several days before collection, a side effect of the medicine used to overstimulate the donors bone marrow production. These effects disappear shortly after collection. For more details and risk factors please CLICK HERE.

Posted by Stacie (Tami's cousin)