title: Breaking the rules? X-ray examination of hematopoietic stem cell grafts at international airports.
abstract: Hematopoietic stem cell grafts from unrelated donors are commonly transported by aircraft. They must not be subjected to x-rays during security checks, which may cause inconvenient discussions between the courier and the airport security staff. We exposed hematopoietic stem cells from mobilized peripheral blood to a widely used x-ray hand-luggage control system. Cell viability as well as growth in vitro of mature progenitor cells (colony-forming cells), primitive progenitor cells (long-term culture-initiating cells), and lymphocytes were not altered even after 10 passages through the hand-luggage control system. Thus, repeated exposure to the low radiation dose of hand-luggage control systems (1.5 +/- 0.6 microSv per exposure) seems to be harmless for hematopoietic stem cells, which should simplify the international transport of stem cell grafts.
authors.affiliation: Division of Haematology and Oncology, University Hospital, Innsbruck, Austria. andreas.petzer@uibk.ac.at
authors.forename: Andreas L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Petzer
authors.forename: Hans-Georg
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Speth
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hoflehner
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clausen
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nachbaur
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gastl
authors.forename: Eberhard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gunsilius
mesh_terms: D001359:Aviation; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000528:radiation effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000592:standards; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000528:radiation effects*; D006801:Humans; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000592:standards; D014965:X-Rays