If your HLA type matches with any patient looking for a match, you will be called upon to donate your Blood Stem Cells to save the patient. A cheek / buccal swab or a small sample of your blood is sent for Confirmatory Typing (CT) to verify your match with the patient.

There are two different methods of Blood Stem Cell Donation

• Bone Marrow Donation
• The Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation (PBSC Donation)

A medical health check up is mandatory for the donor to proceed with either method of blood stem cell collection. This is to make sure that the donor is healthy before he/she donates, and patient is not put at risk from the collected donor cells.

This is a traditional method that has been in practice for more than 40 years. Bone Marrow donation is an inpatient process where bone marrow is extracted from donor’s pelvic region (iliac crest -hip bone) through a process called Aspiration. The procedure happens inside the Operation Theater once the donor is given general anesthesia. The entire procedure will take between 1 and 2 hours.

About 80% of Blood Stem Cell Donations across the world are PBSC (Peripheral Blood Stem Cell), where once the donor is declared healthy; he/she is administered sub-cutaneous injection of G-CSF (Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor) growth factor for 5 days. G-CSF is a glycoprotein that stimulates the bone marrow to produce blood stem cells and release them into the blood steam. This 5-day period is called mobilization period as G-CSF is mobilized into peripheral blood. The Collection happens on the 5^th day of the mobilization period through a process called Apheresis where in the blood stem cells alone are taken from the donor’s body and rest of the blood is returned to the donor’s blood circulation. Apheresis process is an outpatient procedure which lasts for 3-4hrs, similar to platelet donation. Post collection, the elevated stem cell (granulocyte) count will normalize within 1-2 days.

• Bone marrow donation

The most serious risk associated with Donating Bone Marrow involves the use and effects of general anesthesia during extraction. After the bone marrow extraction, you might feel tired or weak and the area where the bone marrow was extracted might feel sore for a few days. You will be advised a pain reliever for the discomfort. You’ll likely be able to get back to your normal routine within a couple of days, but it may take a couple of weeks before you feel fully recovered.

• Peripheral blood stem cell donation

The risks of this type of Blood Stem Cell Donation are minimal. Before the donation, you’ll get injections of GCSF that increases the number of blood stem cells in your peripheral blood. GCSF may sometimes cause, bone pain, muscle aches, headache, fatigue, nausea or vomiting. These usually disappear within a couple of days. You will be advised to take a pain reliever for the discomfort by the collection center  physician.

You can donate in the city where you live, if there is an apheresis / bone marrow collection center. In case there is no apheresis / bone marrow collection center in the city, DATRI will make all the necessary travel and stay arrangements to facilitate donation.

A maximum of 300ml of Blood Stem Cells will be collected this is determined by calculating the weight of the patient.

In most of the cases the donation would take place 1 to 3 months after the confirmatory test. We always give notice and accommodate your schedule.

With DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry the donor can only donate Blood Stem Cell up to two times. This number is restricted because DATRI is focused on treating donors with care. However, there are no health restrictions involved with further donations.

As a standard practice across registries worldwide, the details of the donor and patient are kept confidential.

The donor/patient may be told the following details of the Patient/donor

• Age group
• Gender
• Diagnosis

All registries across the globe follow a standard protocol. DATRI facilitates donor recipient meeting after one year of donation at a mutually agreed time and place. This standard protocol is to support the donors’ and the recipients’ privacy and discretion.

You could be that 1 in 10,000 match! It is near impossible to find another alternative because your HLA is unique. 12 characteristics of the HLA are evaluated which have to match with the patient, which makes it so difficult. You are the only hope for the suffering life.

Blood Stem Cell Donation is similar to blood donation. So there are no religious interferences. Moreover, no religion restricts saving another life.

Irrespective of gender, there have been no reported cases or research evidence that suggests adverse effect on fertility. Blood Stem Cell Donation does not influence or affect fertility.

Your body will not be deprived of blood stem cells. The 5 days of GCSF injection increases the number of blood stem cells in your blood stream. These ‘extra’ blood stem cells will be collected from your body for the patient. During blood stem cell donation only these extra blood stem cells are collected; the remaining components of blood (RBC, WBC, platelets) are returned to the body.

No. For female donors, pregnancy test would be done during health checkup and before donation process. If it is positive you will not be permitted to donate. But you can be a blood stem cell donor one year after child birth, and once you stop nursing your child.

Treating physician of the patient will be the right judge to determine whether the patient needs a PBSC product or Bone Marrow product. However, when we counsel the donor for both, the final choice is left with the donor to choose through which method he/she is willing to donate.

There have been no long term side effects reported. Less than 10% of donors face flu-like symptoms. This is due to G-CSF which increases the number of white blood cells in the blood stream. These symptoms are alleviated with a prescribed paracetamol.

Potential donors who have tested positive for HIV, Type 1 diabetes, or have had epilepsy, or currently pregnant, nursing cannot donate. To know more in detail about exclusion criteria please see (link).

No. Mostly, it is not required. In case, if it is required then the collection center physician will advise.

Blood stem cells are immature primitive cells that have the capacity to multiply and mature into different types of blood cells such as

• Red blood cells, which carry oxygen to all parts of the body
• White blood cells, which help fight infection
• Platelets, which help control bleeding.

Becoming Blood Stem Cell Donor is important because, patient has only 25% chance of finding a HLA matched donor within the family. Those who do not find a match within the family have to depend on a registry like DATRI to find a HLA matched Unrelated Blood Stem Cell Donor willing to donate their blood stem cells. There are more than 4500+ patients in the DATRI’s database who are still waiting for a match. You could be a life-saving match to such a patient and gift them a chance to survive. If you are not registered with DATRI, chances are you might be a lifesaving match for someone and we will not be able to find you.

When Blood Stem Cells are extracted from the Bone Marrow, it is called Bone Marrow Donation. If the Blood Stem Cells are collected from the Peripheral Blood Stream, the procedure is called Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PSBC) Donation.

The chances of survival for children are 80% and adults are 60%. It also depends up on other factors like the severity and the stage of the disease.

In a cord blood transplant the cord blood stem cells are collected and stored in a cord blood bank, and used when required. But in a blood stem cell donation, blood stem cells are collected only when there is a HLA matched donor and at the correct time of treatment of the patient.

Patients rely on the HLA matched donor with a lot of hope to recover. So if you are found to be a match, you should willingly donate your blood stem cells, as you are the ONLY one who can save the patient’s life.

DATRI is a not-for- profit organization registered as a Section 8 company. We depend on monetary contributions to add potential donors to the registry, to help donation process and to support our operational expenses.

There are 3 (three) requirements,

• You must be between the age of 18 and 50 years.
• You must fulfill some of the important health guidelines–free from diseases like HIV, Hepatitis, cardiac illness, auto immune disorders, chronic lung disease etc.
• Most important, you should have a kind heart to help someone in need.

A cheek / buccal swab, is a non-invasive way to collect cells from the inside of a person’s cheek, which are then used to do the HLA typing.

Yes, all our donor data’s are kept confidential. The data is encrypted and stored in a secure database.

It takes about 5 weeks for the HLA typing results to be added to the registry.

Yes, you can donate.

Donating blood stem cells does not interfere with your normal routine or your family life. All our donors who have donated are leading a normal life.

You can send a mail to followup@datri.org or info@datri.org with details to be updated along with the donor number printed on your donor ID card.

There are no long term side effects have been recorded. Donor may experience some short term side effects like slight headache, nausea or body ache during the 5 days of the GCSF injection. This decreases once the blood stem cells are collected from the donor’s blood stream. Also, during the period of GCSF injection, a general paracetamol will be prescribed by collection center physician.

# The regulations prevalent in the patient’s country of residence

# Health of the patient: Any such interaction is possible ONLY if the patient is in good health and is desirous for the same.