Medical Minute: Bone Marrow Extraction

OhioHealth The first bone marrow harvest surgery was successfully completed, marking a milestone for the organization. Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cell Therapy Program.

“We take bone marrow from a donor, usually a sibling.” Bassem William, MD“We take the patient into the operating room, they receive general anesthesia, they lie face down, and over the course of about an hour we harvest a liter of bone marrow from their hip and pelvic bones, which we then transplant into the recipient,” said Dr. McConnell, clinical director of OhioHealth's Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, medical director of the Cell Therapy Institute and the Immune Effector Cell Program, and John P. McConnell Endowed Professor of Cancer Research.

While the use of a patient's own bone marrow is being largely phased out, unrelated individuals who are registered with the National Marrow Donor Program can donate, but OhioHealth has not yet begun doing so, Dr. Williams said.

Although bone marrow harvest is an important component of stem cell recovery, it is not the only method available.

“In fact, the more common method that we use today is harvesting peripheral blood stem cells,” Dr. William said, “which is used in about 90 percent of allogeneic transplants, which are transplants from another person to the patient… But there are certain clinical scenarios where harvesting bone marrow is advantageous.”

One important consideration in the bone marrow harvesting process is the timing of transplantation.

“In the case of bone marrow harvest, we try to transplant the cells on the same day because freezing bone marrow is typically more technically challenging than freezing peripheral blood stem cells, so in most cases we infuse them back into the patient on the same day,” Dr. William said.

For the recipients of these stem cells, the journey continues with around two to three weeks in hospital for recovery. As for the donors, Dr. William assured them the process will be relatively smooth.

“The donor themselves will be taken to a recovery room and will usually be able to go home the same day and continue with light work for another week until they are fully recovered. This is a completely outpatient procedure,” he said.

If you would like to support this effort or learn more about the National Marrow Donor Program, translation.

To learn more about OhioHealth's Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, click here here.