The methods used to collect hematopoietic stem cells in their natural environment (bone marrow or cord blood) or in the peripheral blood after stimulation are well-defined and ruled both to ensure the donor security and perform a quality hematopoietic transplantation. Safety of the familial or non-familial donor must be ensured not only during the collection but also on a medium- or a long-term basis. The stem cells amount in a graft and its characterisation depend on the collection site of hematopoietic stem cells and on the technique used. The knowledge of conditions influencing these amounts allows optimising the hematopoietic stem cells collection while preventing conditions in which the donor safety could be decreased. The collection site also influences the collection of significant amounts of other blood cells. This knowledge conditions the preparation procedures of the graft in cell therapy units or the management of per- or post-transplantations complications in haematology units. Thus, hematopoietic transplantations concern not only hematological units but also the teams involved in various stages of donor selection, hematopoietic stem cells collection and graft preparation. In order to allow an appropriate care of both donor and recipient, a concomitant knowledge of all the stages involved in hematopoietic collection conditions, characterisation of collected cells, hematological diseases and conditioning must be brought to hematological, collection and cell therapy teams.
Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier SAS.