title: Searches for matched and closely matched related and unrelated bone marrow donors undertaken in a single paediatric unit.
abstract: Information regarding the likelihood of finding suitable marrow donors is limited. In order to determine this potential, all patients who received their primary care at a single paediatric institution over a 9 year period and in whom tissue typing studies were initiated are reviewed. Forty-five (31.3%) of 144 patients had a sibling who was human leucocyte antigen (HLA) identical. A further 16 (11.2%) patients had immediate or more distant relatives who were either HLA identical (2.7%) or matched for five of six HLA antigens (8.3%). The possibility that a parent was closely matched with the patient was suggestive from the typing of siblings alone in only half the cases. Unrelated HLA matched donors were identified in four (27%) of 17 bone marrow bank searches. Overall, a potential related donor was identified within the family for 42% of patients and this figure rose to 45% when successful marrow bank searches were included. It can be concluded that initial typing should include both the parents and siblings. If a suitable donor is not found then an extended family and/or bone marrow bank search will identify additional suitable donors in a significant number of families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology and Oncology, Prince of Wales Children's Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Vowels
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Honeyman
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Doran
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lam-Po-Tang
mesh_terms: D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002648:Child; D005190:Family; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014019:Tissue Donors