Donor focused research

We know from our own research that stem cell transplants that use adult unrelated donors are more likely to be successful if the donor is younger. While many studies have demonstrated that young adults are able to donate safety, little is known about the reliability and availability of younger donors, many of whom are still in full time education, as well as the potential psychological impact of donating at a young age.

To address this gap in our knowledge, we conducted a retrospective analysis of over 1,000 donors on our register. The donors were separated into groups, based on their age, to identify possible ways in which their ability to donate or their donation experience differed.

The study has shown that younger donors are as reliable as older donors in responding to our testing requests and can consistently donate enough stem cells for transplants to go ahead. There was no increased risk of side effects or complications post-donation and they showed good long-term physical and mental recovery.

Overall, 16-22-year-olds are reliable and effective donors, with good emotional recovery, indicating a level of maturity necessary for the experience. The study supports our ongoing inclusion of unrelated donors to the registry from 16 years onwards.

An executive summary of the study and outline of its key findings are available.

A copy of the full report is also available on request.

This ongoing piece of work focuses on how we communicate with our donors as they go through the stem cell donation process. It provides us with a better understanding of which platforms are the most suitable, and why, for specific donor audiences. It also allows us to determine the effectiveness of the information all our teams provide to our donors.

We are committed to involving our donors at every stage of the project. We hold regular focus groups with a diverse demographic of donors to gather opinions and ideas on how we can improve our communications. We are particularly interested in exploring news way of communicating, making sure all our donors can easily access the information they need.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to major changes to the way that transplant centres and donor registries operated to reduce the risk of infection to both patients and donors. National and international guidelines recommended that only urgent transplants were conducted during this time. Cryopreservation was recommended for all donations before patients started conditioning therapy to ensure there was a guaranteed source of stem cells source present. This minimized the risk to patients from disruption caused by transport delays or the donor needing to isolate. Back-up donors were also recommended for all planned transplants.

These changes have the potential to cause great disruption, so the UK aligned registries (which includes Anthony Nolan, NHSBT and DKMS) have launched this new study to measure their impact.

In particular, the study will focus on:

1. How many donor search requests were made and how many donor verification typing tests were performed.
2. The time taken to prepare donors for their donation.
3. The number of transplants performed.