Does it Hurt to Give Bone Marrow?

Recently I learned about bone marrow donation and thought about donating. When I told my mom that she freaked out and said that it would hurt like crazy and it would take a really long time for my marrow to recover. So I did a little research and someone said that only the biopsies for the patient would hurt, the donation process is painless since they would give me anesthesia.
How bad does it hurt to give bone marrow?

The surgeon typically removes marrow from the iliac crest, which is the back part of the pelvis (your hip bone). Several incisions—from four to eight—are made in your skin, and a large hollow needle is inserted several times through these incisions into the bone to extract the marrow. The incisions are small enough to heal without requiring stitches.

If you are donating actual marrow, the donation is done under general anesthesia or with an epidural. You will not feel the pain of the donation. You will be sore for a couple weeks after though. Donating marrow IS a surgical proceedure.

Most donations, however, are peripheral blood stem cells. They are taken by aphersis, which is the same proceedure as at the plasma center or some red cross donations such as a double red cell donation.