The­re are two dif­fe­rent ways to obtain stem cells for transplantation. In the case of peri­pheral blood stem cell dona­ti­on, the donor is given a growth fac­tor for several days to encou­ra­ge the stem cells to matu­re fas­ter and pass into the blood. The stem cells are then fil­te­red out of the blood in a simi­lar way to dia­ly­sis. Sin­ce this has now become the stan­dard method, we no lon­ger tend to talk about bone mar­row trans­plants but rather (blood) stem cell transplants. With a bone mar­row dona­ti­on, a long need­le is used to extract some of the bone mar­row from the pel­vic bone of the donor under gene­ral anesthe­sia. The bone mar­row is quickly rege­ne­ra­ted by the body.