Bone marrow donation by minors generally does not have much effect on their health, but they may experience a series of uncomfortable reactions such as fever, dizziness, lumbar numbness and so on after injection of mobilizing agent.
At present, the age requirement for bone marrow donors in China is generally between 18 and 55 years old, but minors can also donate bone marrow if the match between relatives is appropriate.
Currently, bone marrow donation mainly adopts the collection method of peripheral blood stem cells. Before collection, the donor needs to be injected with mobilizing injections to stimulate the production of granulocytes, and when the standard of collection is reached, peripheral blood will be extracted, and the extracted blood will be put into a stem cell separator, which separates the stem cells, and then the blood will be re-introduced into the donor’s body.
Since the blood stem cells regenerate every day, various blood components can be restored to their original levels within a short period of time after bone marrow donation, with little or no effect on the donor’s own health.
However, donors often experience a series of uncomfortable reactions, such as fever, dizziness, etc., and a short-term decline in immunity after the mobilizing injection, which requires bed rest and nutritional supplementation, and can be restored to normal in a short period of time. There is no research that shows that mobilizing injections have long-term side effects.
Therefore, it is feasible for minors to donate bone marrow to their relatives, with less impact on their own health, but only with the informed consent of the minor.