title: Prenatal HLA-matching to determine suitability for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.
abstract: For several haematological malignancies, allogeneic stem cell transplantation is the treatment of choice. In most cases an HLA-identical sibling is required. If the mother of a patient is pregnant, cord blood from a related donor, which can be used for stem cell transplantation, might be obtainable in the near future. For the patient, knowledge of the foetal HLA-type can be important since it might influence choice of treatment and timing of transplantation. If the foetus is HLA compatible, as would be the situation in 25% of cases, the delivery has to be arranged in such a way that cord stem cells can be collected. As a result, in the other 75% of cases (spontaneous) delivery can take place in the home/local setting. Here we report four cases in which amniocentesis was performed and HLA-typing influenced treatment of the patient and delivery of the sibling.
authors.affiliation: Emma Children Hospital, Department of Paediatric Oncology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verjaal
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boer
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Lardy
mesh_terms: D000649:Amniocentesis; D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000276:immunology*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000276:immunology; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006700:Home Childbirth; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007947:Leukemia, Megakaryoblastic, Acute / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000628:therapy; D009679:Nuclear Family; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000628:therapy; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous