Bone Marrow

Bone marrow cells are collected during a surgical procedure that takes approximately an hour. The donors or patients often receive anesthesia. Then, doctors use hollow needles to remove the bone marrow from the hip bones. The bone marrow is liquid and looks like blood. Anticoagulants are added to prevent clumping. After the marrow is collected, the cell suspension is passed through a series of sterile filters of decreasing size (500, 300 and 200 microns) to remove fat, bone particles and cellular debris. 

If there is a delay between collection and infusion, bone marrow may be stored at either room temperature or in a refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours. Bone marrow may also be cryopreserved, or frozen, if necessary, a procedure commonly used when it is collected for use in an autologous transplant. The frozen cells are usually stored in a liquid nitrogen freezer at less than -135ºC (-211ºF).    


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