8 people donate stem cells in Shanghai, setting a weekly record

Shanghai is setting a new weekly record with eight people donating stem cells this week.

By Friday, Shanghai will have achieved 704 stem cell donations, according to officials from the Red Cross Society of China Shanghai Branch, which is in charge of stem cell registration and donations in the city.

Chen Huandong, a university student, donated stem cell on Tuesday to become the city's 700th donor.

He signed up to participate in the China Marrow Donor Program two years ago after being moved by his schoolmate Wang Haodong's father, who was the city's 528th stem cell donor.

"When I was informed that I am a match for a child with leukemia. I felt very lucky as there is a very slim chance that two persons can match in such a big country and decided to donate immediately," he said.

There are about 4 million blood disease patients in China and the number of leukemia patients is rising by 40,000 each year. Half of these are children.

Stem cell transplant is now the most effective therapy, with many patients losing their lives after failing to get a matched donation.

The China Marrow Donor Program carries out stem cell donation among people aged between 18 and 45 years in order to help more patients.

Shanghai started relevant work in 1992 and completed the nation's first donation in 1996.

The city is also the first in China to launch online registration and self-help oral mucosa collection and sample testing registration. So far, it is the also the nation's only provincial-level city allowing registration for both blood and oral mucosa samples.

The marrow program's Shanghai branch now has nearly 190,000 registered volunteers.

Process for registering and donating stem cell in Shanghai

Eligible people (those aged between 18 and 45 years with good physical condition) can register at a blood donation site by filling an agreement and giving an 8-milliliter blood sample for HLA testing. All the information will be recorded into the database of the China Marrow Donor Program.

Another way is to register on the public WeChat account of Shanghai Stem Cell Donation under the local Red Cross and fulfill the agreement. After issuing the online application, staff will send a self-help oral mucosa collection kit. The delivery man will go to your place to take the kit for testing. The system will inform the applicant after all the tests are done and the information has been inputted in the marrow donor program.

The hotline for local stem cell donation is 62478117.

The chance for a HLA match between two unrelated persons is only one in several hundred thousand, said Red Cross officials, who welcome both Chinese and expatriates to register for stem cell donation in the city.

A Malaysian doctor working in Shanghai has donated stem cell successfully to save a child with leukemia and many stem cells donated in Shanghai have been sent overseas for ailing patients.

When a patient finds a matched donor at the database, the donor will receive a call from Red Cross staff to consult whether he or she is willing to give a donation, to which the volunteer must agree completely.

After their willingness is confirmed, the donor will receive more sample collection and very strict HLA testing. If the donor passes this test, he or she will undergo a health checkup.

Staff will make a detailed arrangement on sample collection and follow-up issues. In Shanghai, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai General Hospital and Renji Hospital are the only three facilities offering stem cell collection. The donor should be hospitalized for the whole process.

The donation usually runs for five to six days.

Staff from the local Red Cross will accompany the donor to fulfill all the process and prepare necessary items on the first day, when the donor's temperature and blood pressure will be measured and he or she will receive the first injection of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor to stimulate the growth of stem cells and the release of stem cells into the blood. There will be an ultrasound check after this.

On the 2nd, 3rd and 4th day of hospitalization, the donor will receive a blood check and get granulocyte colony-stimulating factor injection each day.

The 5th day is the big day, when the last injection is given and stem cell collection is conducted.

During the process, the donor only needs to stay on bed, and a machine will collect stem cell from the blood and return the rest back to the donor. Usually it takes four hours to collect 200 milliliters of stem cells. Then the medical staff will calculate the stem cell count.

If the cell counts fail to meet the standard, the donor will receive one more injection and continue the collection on the next day.

After donation, the donor will receive blood check each week in the first two weeks and another check on the fourth week, plus a comprehensive health chekcup within six months. If all indicators are OK, the whole stem cell donation process is complete.