A global assessment of hemostatic function of healthy allogeneic stem cell donors undergoing apheresis by rotational thromboelastometry.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection via apheresis requires the administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (filgrastim) to stem cell donors. Several reports have shown that filgrastim administration and apheresis procedure induce a hypercoagulable state across PBSC collection, which might predispose certain donors to thrombotic complications. METHODS: We evaluated the hemostatic functions of healthy allogeneic stem cell donors by rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM). Blood samples from healthy donors (n = 30) were collected at defined time points before filgrastim (baseline), on the day of apheresis before and after the procedure, and 1 week after apheresis. RESULTS: The results indicated that hemostatic changes are temporary since all parameters in both EXTEM and INTEM assays are restored to their initial values 1 week after the apheresis. CONCLUSION: We concluded that stem cell apheresis does not induce a hypercoagulable state in healthy donors. This is the first study evaluating the hemostatic functions of stem cell donors by ROTEM.