title: Probability of finding HLA-matched unrelated marrow donors.
abstract: Bone marrow transplantation has become the treatment of choice for certain hematologic diseases. However, only 30-40% of patients who might benefit from this procedure have a suitable family donor. Consequently, many centers have begun to explore the use of unrelated volunteer donors. Initial results have demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. As a result, a national effort has begun to recruit HLA-typed volunteers in order to establish a registry of individuals who would be willing to serve as bone marrow donors. This manuscript explores the potential impact of establishing such a registry. We find that a registry of attainable size could more than double the number of marrow transplants now being performed. However, even with a registry of enormous size, it will still not be possible to identify an HLA-matched donor for some patients.
authors.affiliation: Puget Sound Blood Center, Seattle, WA 98104.
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Beatty
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dahlberg
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Mickelson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nisperos
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Opelz
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hansen
mesh_terms: D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D005190:Family; D005787:Gene Frequency; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D011336:Probability; D012042:Registries; D014019:Tissue Donors
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens