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

IntroductionPeripheral 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.MethodsWe 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.ResultsThe 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.ConclusionWe 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.