Effects on donors of second bone marrow collections.

Second bone marrow transplants have been used successfully to treat marrow graft failure or relapse following the original marrow transplantation. Hospital records of 16 related two-time bone marrow donors were reviewed to determine what risks a person faces in making a second marrow donation. One donor suffered a minor complication following the first collection, but no donors suffered complications during the second donation. The volume of marrow collected for the first and second donations (1253 +/- 504 vs. 1261 +/- 471 mL) was similar. However, more marrow donors received transfusions of homologous red cells during the second collection than during the first collection (5/16 compared to 1/16; p = 0.06). To determine what factors might contribute to the high incidence of homologous red cell transfusion during second donations, the experiences of donors who received homologous blood during the second donation were compared to the experiences of donors who received only autologous blood. Persons receiving homologous blood during the second collection received more red cell units than persons receiving autologous blood (2.0 +/- 0.7 units compared to 0.9 +/- 0.5 units; p less than 0.01). Their precollection hemoglobin levels were lower (12.3 +/- 1.2 vs. 14.4 +/- 1.4 g/dL [123 +/- 12 vs. 144 +/- 14 g/L]; p less than 0.01), and the time between the first and second collections was significantly less (45 +/- 8 days vs. 342 +/- 432 days; p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)