Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation (PBSC)
May 11, 2009

Follow the step-by-step process of a PBSC donation from the donor until it's on its way to a patient in need.

 

1. Moncies Hernandez, from Alice, Texas smiles as he makes his life-saving donation for an 18-year-old man with AML. The headquarters location of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center now has an area for PBSC donation, so we're able to accommodate more donors.

2. After the collection, the precious stem cells are placed into a cooler.

3. The cooler is ready for delivery to the laboratory for testing and processing. In this case, the delivery goes from the first to the second floor! The Texas Cord Blood Bank is located upstairs and they are fully equipped to process and test the stem cells.

4. Once the precious bag of stem cells arrives, it is carefully weighed by the technologists in the cord blood laboratory.

5. A small sample is withdrawn from the bag for analysis. The tests include a check on the number of stem cells, their viability and a blood culture is performed to detect growth of any microorganisms in the product.

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6. Finally, the information on the labels is checked and double-checked. Now the bag is ready to be delivered and transfused into a young man to give him a second chance at life.

Be the Match Program