Use of blood components containing red cells by donors of allogeneic bone marrow

Bone marrow transplantation is performed for an increasing number of disorders. Although much has been written about blood transfusion in bone marrow recipients, there is little information dealing with blood transfusion in bone marrow donors. We examined the records of 129 consecutive allogeneic bone marrow transplants to determine blood use by bone marrow donors. We attempted to correlate blood transfusion requirements with a number of variables in both donors and recipients of bone marrow. The volume of marrow harvested correlated closely with the number of units of blood transfused (r = 0.82). When these two variables were expressed as a percent of estimated blood volume, the correlation improved slightly (r = 0.85). Although the volume of marrow correlated highly with the total number of mononuclear cells harvested (r = 0.92), the correlation between total cells harvested and number of units of blood transfused was not as high (r = 0.75). By knowing the number of marrow cells the recipient requires for transplantation, the volume of donor marrow required and donor blood transfusion requirements can be estimated. In most instances, autologous blood could be used exclusively, thus eliminating the risks associated with homologous blood transfusion.