The Austrian Bone Marrow Donor Registry: Providing Patients in Austria with Unrelated Donors for Transplant – a Worldwide Cooperation

Abstract

Background: The Austrian Bone Marrow Donor Registry is the central search coordinating unit in charge of national and international donor searches in Austria. Patients and Methods: Between 1988 and 2010, a worldwide search for an unrelated donor of blood stem cells (URD) was initiated for 2,166 Austrian patients with haematological disorders, 1,671 adults and 495 children, by the Austrian Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Results: An URD was identified for 78.3% of the patients between 2008 and 2010, for 76.7% of the patients between 2004 and 2007, for 71.3% between 1996 and 2003, but only for 53.4% of the patients in the initial period of 1988–1995. Thus, results of international donor searches improve over time. In contrast, search duration decreases steadily: Search times of successful searches decreased from about 8 months in the first period between 1988 and 1996 to 1.84 months in 2010. Overall, 1,558 of the 2,166 patients (71.9%) could be provided with a matching donor. However, not every patient provided with a URD was transplanted. Overall, only 1,141 of 2,166 patients (52.7%) proceeded to transplant. Conclusion: Figures have significantly improved for the latest period of donor searches between 2008 and 2010. In this period, a donor could be found for 78.3%, and 58.5% of the patients received a transplant.

HLA Class I and Class II Conserved Extended Haplotypes and Their Fragments or Blocks in Mexicans: Implications for the Study of Genetic Diversity in Admixed Populations

“…Principal Components Analysis (PCA) for 38 populations with HLA-B data available was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 19 software ( IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA ) to analyse the distribution of HLA-B alleles in human groups of the proposed ancestries, Figure 1 . PCA included population data of Ireland [20], NW of England [61], Germany [62], Austria [63]; Spain, Italy, United Kingdom [64], France [65], Gypsy from Andalucía (Spain; data collected by López-Nevot et al ) [14], Azores Terceira Island [66], Forro from São Tomé Island [67], Beti from Cameroon [68], Bandiagara from Mali, Lusaka from Zambia, Luo and Nandi from Kenia [69], Mandeka from Senegal [70], Guinea Bissau [71], Aleut from Bering Island (Russia) [72], center of Japan [73], a cord blood bank of Tzu Chi Foundation (Taiwan) [74], Han from southern China [60], north India [75], Kensiu from Malasya [76], Kinh from Vietnam [77], Tarahumara from northern Mexico [17], Native Americans from Gila River (USA) [78], Yu’pik from Alaska (USA) [79], Mixtec, Zapotec, and Mixe from Oaxaca (Mexico) [16], Seri from Sonora (Mexico) [80], Navajo from New Mexico (USA) [81], Uro from Titikaka Lake (Peru) [82], and Toba from Rosario (Argentina; data collected by Cintia Marcos et al ) [14]. Also, two admixed populations from Mexico were included: a “Mexican Mestizo” sample [83] and a sample from Guadalajara City, western Mexico [23].…”

Unrelated Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donor Matching Probability and Search Algorithm

“…Overall median search duration was 20 days (7–330), 45 days (7–1225), and 477 (2–2870) days in patients groups with high, low and very low search success probabilities, respectively [ 13 ]. A recent Austrian study reported that a 9-10/10 (exceptionally a 8/10) matched donor could be identified for 78.3% of the patients (87.7% of European origin) in 2008–2010 searches, with a mean search time of 1.84 months in 2010 [ 18 ].…”

Time to Insurance Approval in Private and Public Payers Does Not Influence Survival in Patients Who Undergo Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

“…Pretransplantation evaluation of a patient can be a prolonged and complicated process that often involves patient counseling, careful consideration of risks and benefits, frequent medical and logistic reassessments, and consideration of out-of-pocket expenses. Preparing a patient for HCT can also depend on disease response to initial treatment, and in the case of allogeneic transplantation, donor search can take a few months, particularly for non-Caucasian ethnic groups [12,13,16]. These factors can lengthen the time between the determination that HCT is recommended and when it actually occurs.…”