Marrow Storage Techniques: A Clinical Comparison of Refrigeration versus Cryopreservation

Abstract

Fifty-three patients were evaluated for a comparison of the efficacy, safety, and cost efficiency of bone marrow (BM) transplanted after either refrigeration or cryopreservation. Thirty-eight patients had BM stored at 4 °C for an average of 3 days and 15 patients had cryopreserved BM stored for an average of 56 days. The average number of cells harvested was 3.8 × 10⁸/kg. The time to WBC recovery > 1 × 10⁹/l was 17 days refrigerated and 23 days for cryopreserved BM. The time to platelet recovery > 20 × 10⁹/l was 24 days for refrigeration storage and 51 days for cryopreserved BM. Four of 38 patients with refrigerated vs. 4/15 patients with cryopreserved BM experienced delayed engraftment (p < 0.05). Refrigeration storage requires no special equipment, is cheaper than and presents a safe and viable alternative to cryopreserved BM in reconstituting hemopoiesis following high-dose chemo-radiotherapy.

Cyclophosphamide, etoposide and carboplatine plus non-cryopreserved autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation rescue for patients with refractory or relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

“…6 On the other hand, no clinically meaningful variation in post-transplant course and engraftment kinetics between refrigerated storage and cryopreserved stem cells was found. 5,6,8 Our study confirms that non-frozen stem cells are useful to support patients with NHL treated with myeloablative therapies. Sierra et al investigated the impact of frozen and non-frozen BM on engraftment kinetics and disease outcome in 94 patients with NHL autografted with frozen marrow compared with 38 who received marrow stored at 4 or 101C.…”

“…All patients were treated with induction chemotherapy for a minimum of three cycles or until they had achieved CR or minimal disease state. The median number of prior chemotherapy regimens was 4 (range [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Three patients (9.4%) had received prior radiotherapy either at initial presentation or as salvage therapy for relapse.…”

“…Refrigeration storage requires no special equipment, is cheaper than and presents a safe and viable alternative to cryopreserved BM in reconstituting hematopoiesis following high-dose chemo-radiotherapy. 5,6 Refrigerated storage was supplanted by cryopreservation as most transplant centers developed multiday conditioning regimens. Indeed, there is limited experience with autologous transplantation of non-cryopreserved hematopoietic stem cells.…”

Non-cryopreserved peripheral blood progenitor cells collected by a single very large-volume leukapheresis: A simplified and effective procedure for support of high-dose chemotherapy

“…Long-term cryopreservation of hematopoietic stem cells is effective but expensive and requires specialized equipments. Refrigerated storage for short-term preservation of bone marrow is an alternative to cryopreservation when chemotherapeutic regimens include drugs with short in vivo half-life [8,9]. Refrigerated storage of the bone marrow requires no special equipment, is cheaper than cryopreserved bone marrow and may provide an opportunity for extended exposure to purging agents in vitro prior to transplantation.…”

The Regulation of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Collection and Storage: The New York State Approach

“…No specific monitoring of the freezing process (e.g., a record of the freezing curve) is mandated. Although stem cells may survive fairly well for longer than 24 hours when stored in the cold, and can be used for transplantation after liquid storage (Takahashi & Singer, 1985;Ahmed et al, 1991), the survival of stem cells after freeze/thaw after prolonged liquid storage has not been documented.…”