Thousands of transplants a year
In 2025, 5,258 blood stem cell transplants were performed in Italy: 3,107 with the patient's own cells (autologous) and 2,151 with cells from a donor (allogeneic). Source: Centro Nazionale Trapianti, 2025 report.
Donate
Donating stem cells: bone marrow, blood and umbilical cord.
Every year, blood stem cell transplants treat thousands of people with leukemias, lymphomas and other blood diseases. Many of them need a matching donor they do not know. Here you can find out how it works in Italy, with the official sources.
Who can joinAged 18 to 35 to sign up
HowAn interview and a blood or saliva sample
SourcesCentro Nazionale Trapianti, IBMDR, Centro Nazionale Sangue
In brief
- People aged 18 to 35 who weigh more than 50 kg and are in good health can join the donor registry. You stay on the registry until age 55.
- To join, all you need is an interview with a doctor and a blood or saliva sample.
- If one day you turn out to be a match for a patient, you will almost always donate from the blood, with a procedure similar to plasma donation. Less often, marrow is collected from the pelvic bones, under anesthesia.
- Bone marrow is not the spinal cord: donation does not involve the spine (source: ADMO).
- Umbilical cord blood can be donated free of charge to a public bank at the time of birth. In Italy it cannot be stored in a private bank for personal use.
Why donors are needed
Finding a matching donor is hard
One sibling in four
The simplest donor is a brother or sister, but only 1 in 4 is a match. Between unrelated people a match is much rarer: up to 1 in 100,000. Sources: CNT, IBMDR.
A worldwide registry
The Italian registry (IBMDR) had 525,682 available donors at the end of 2025 and is connected to registries all over the world. In 2025, of the 1,161 transplants from unrelated donors performed in Italy, only 256 (22%) used cells from Italian donors. Sources: IBMDR, 2025 report, CNT.
Why compatibility matters: the immune system recognizes the body's normal cells as its own and reacts against foreign ones. That is why donor and patient must have genetic markers (HLA) that are as similar as possible; these are analyzed in the blood or saliva sample given at the time of joining the registry. Sources: IBMDR, ADMO.
Who can join
Requirements for joining the donor registry
- Age: between 18 and 35 (that is, before your 36th birthday). Once registered, you remain on the registry until age 55. Sources: CNT, CNT, frequently asked questions.
- Weight and health: more than 50 kg and good health. Conditions that rule out donation include, for example, most cancers (even if cured), blood clotting problems, some cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases, and epilepsy. Source: CNT.
- Full availability: those who join commit to donating to any patient, Italian or foreign. Donation is anonymous, voluntary and unpaid. Source: IBMDR.
How to join
Four steps
Pre-registration
Online on the IBMDR website or in person at a donor center or recruitment hub. The associations ADMO and ADOCES help people sign up.
Interview and sample
A doctor checks your eligibility; then a blood sample or a saliva sample is taken for genetic typing. Source: CNT.
On the registry
Your genetic data go into the national registry, which is connected to international registries: transplant centers search them without knowing the donor's identity. Sources: CNT, ADMO.
If the call comes
Anyone who turns out to be a match is contacted again for confirmatory tests and an eligibility check-up, before the donation is decided.
How donation works
From the blood or from the bone marrow
| From the blood (apheresis) | From the bone marrow | |
|---|---|---|
| How common it is | The most used method: in 2025, 449 of 490 first donations (91.6%) | The remaining 8.4% (41 donations in 2025) |
| Preparation | For 4–5 days, injections of a growth factor (G-CSF) that moves stem cells from the marrow into the blood | Tests and an eligibility check-up |
| The procedure | A machine separates the stem cells from the blood, as in plasma and platelet donation, through a vein in each arm and without anesthesia | Collection from the pelvic bones (iliac crests) under general or epidural anesthesia; 700–1,000 mL of marrow blood is collected |
| Duration | About 3–4 hours per session; 1 or 2 sessions on consecutive days | Usually 30–45 minutes of collection; a hospital stay of about 48 hours |
| Most common side effects | During the injections: low-grade fever or fever, headache, bone pain | Mild pain at the collection site for a couple of days |
Which method to use is proposed by the doctor treating the patient. Sources: IBMDR, donation, CNT, IBMDR, 2025 report.
Rights
What the law guarantees donors
- Paid leave: employees are entitled to paid time off for typing, compatibility tests and the eligibility check-up (legge 6 marzo 2001, n. 52, art. 5 – Law No. 52 of March 6, 2001, Article 5). Source: Normattiva.
- Pay during the hospital stay and recovery: the law guarantees normal pay for the days in hospital needed for the collection and for the recovery period certified by the medical team. The text refers to bone marrow collection; IBMDR states that the protection also covers mobilization with growth factors. Sources: legge 52/2001, IBMDR, donor rights.
- Free tests and long-term follow-up: the tests do not require a doctor's referral; after the donation, the donor is followed up for one year (marrow) or for ten years (peripheral blood). Sources: legge 52/2001, IBMDR.
Umbilical cord
Cord blood: donate it or store it?
What it is
The blood left in the umbilical cord and placenta after birth is rich in blood stem cells and can be used for a transplant.
Donating it to a public bank
Donation is voluntary and free: it costs the family nothing and is included in the Essential Levels of Care (LEA). It takes place at the time of birth, in a hospital accredited as a collection point, with free blood tests at delivery and after six months. The donated unit remains available to anyone who needs it. Sources: CNT, Centro Nazionale Sangue.
Not every unit can be used
A transplant requires a minimum number of cells: only about 7% of the units collected turn out to be suitable. The others are used for research or for other products, such as eye drops and platelet gel. In Italy only 2.9% of couples donate cord blood. Sources: CNT, Centro Nazionale Sangue.
Storing it for yourself
In Italy, storage is allowed only in public facilities: cord blood cannot be stored for personal use, and private banks may neither operate nor advertise. It is permitted to send it to a bank abroad, with authorization from the regional government and at the family's expense. Sources: DM 18 novembre 2009 (Ministerial Decree of November 18, 2009), Accordo Stato-Regioni 2010 (State-Regions Agreement).
“Dedicated” storage
It is free, in public banks, when someone in the family is ill and might need it, or in case of a high risk of certain genetic diseases, according to the lists in the ministerial decrees. Source: DM 18 novembre 2009.
Is storing it for yourself really useful?
According to the Centro Nazionale Sangue, there is no solid scientific evidence in favor of storage for personal use, and cases of actual use are very few. The Council of Europe's guide for parents (2017) estimates the probability of using one's own cord blood at between 1 in 20,000 and 1 in 250,000. Sources: Centro Nazionale Sangue, EDQM, guide for parents.
The Italian public network has 18 cord blood banks in 13 regions, coordinated by the Centro Nazionale Sangue. Source: Centro Nazionale Sangue, bank network.
Where to find information
Official websites and associations
Centro Nazionale Trapianti
The transplant website of the Ministero della Salute (Italy's Ministry of Health): requirements, frequently asked questions, cord blood, donor protections.
IBMDR
The Italian Bone Marrow Donor Registry: pre-registration, donor centers, annual data.
Centro Nazionale Sangue
Rules on cord blood, the network of public banks and collection points.
Associations
They are not public bodies, but they help people find information and sign up: ADMO, ADOCES, ADISCO (cord blood).
Sources
References used on this page
- Centro Nazionale Trapianti: frequently asked questions on hematopoietic stem cells (June 24, 2025) (in Italian)
- Centro Nazionale Trapianti: donating bone marrow (in Italian)
- IBMDR: joining the registry (in Italian)
- IBMDR: donating hematopoietic stem cells (in Italian)
- IBMDR: donor rights and protection (in Italian)
- IBMDR: Annual Report 2025 (in Italian)
- Legge 6 marzo 2001, n. 52, art. 5 (Normattiva) (in Italian)
- WMDA: worldwide registry statistics
- Centro Nazionale Trapianti: donating cord blood (in Italian)
- Centro Nazionale Sangue: cord blood (in Italian)
- Centro Nazionale Sangue: fewer than 3% of couples donate cord blood (November 14, 2025) (in Italian)
- Centro Nazionale Sangue: network of cord blood banks (in Italian)
- Decreto ministeriale 18 novembre 2009: cord blood storage (in Italian)
- Accordo Stato-Regioni del 29 aprile 2010: export of cord blood (in Italian)
- EDQM, Council of Europe: guide for parents on cord blood banking (2017) (in Italian)
- Centro Nazionale Trapianti: 2025 activity report (in Italian)
- ADMO: become a donor (in Italian)
Page checked on October 2, 2026. Rules may change: for personal decisions, rely on the official websites and your own doctor.