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Sufferers from the disease who are suited to receive a bone marrow transplantation undergo long chemotherapy sessions associated to radiotherapy prior to the bone marrow infusion.
Bone marrow transplantation from donor to recipient is called allogenic transplantation. In these cases, the patient receives bone marrow from a relative or any other compatible donor. Statistics show that only 25% of the population has a compatible relative as a possible bone marrow donor. Hence, it is necessary to create potential donor banks so as to be able to make bone marrow transplantations from unrelated but compatible donors, thus enlarging the number of patients likely to be cured. The Jose Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation set up the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDMO) to collaborate with international Registries, and spread bone marrow transplantation wider, hence meeting Spain's needs in this respect. The Foundation believes Bone Marrow Transplant is the best therapeutic measure in the achievement of a complete cure for leukaemia, and REDMO has shown to be the best means to this end. Statistics show that ever since the first bone marrow transplant was performed in 1979, from an unrelated donor, great advances have been achieved, since life span of the sufferers has increased 60%. The improvement in transplantation techniques has made it possible to save up to 80% more lives, if a donor is available at the right moment when the patient is prepared to receive the transplant. However, the lack of a large group of volunteer donors is still a main problem. |
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The main aims of REDMO are: 1- To recruit bone marrow donors from all over Spain.
By the end of March 1996, REDMO had over 22,000 applicants to become registered donors. More than 14,500 of these have been typed, and appear in the International Registry as available donors.
REDMO has started searches for compatible donors for over 600 Spanish patients. By the end of March 1996, the results of this searches enabled that more than 80 Spanish patients received bone marrow transplantations from unrelated donors. REDMO is also in charge of searching possible Spanish donors for patients living in other countries. During 1995, compatible donors in the FoundationΉs Registry were searched for more than 2,500 foreign patients. October 1994 was an important date for the history of REDMO. For the first time a bone marrow from a Spanish donor was transplanted to a leukaemic paediatric patient living in Australia. Up to the end of March 1996, four Spanish patients and six foreign receptors have been transplanted with bone marrow obtained from Spanish donors. One of the Foundation's main aims is to increase the number of bone marrow donors in the near future. The Foundation's President, Jose Carreras, expressed this idea in concrete terms: "(...) our aim is clear: no sufferer of leukaemia in need of a bone marrow transplant must be left without the chance of being cured just because of the lack of a suitable donor in the family. We know the way is going to be hard, but there is no doubt that your help and solidarity will make us succeed in it. Thank you." |
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REDMO, as all the National Bone Marrow Donor Registries, undertakes the search for bone marrow from volunteer donors so that it can be transplanted to patients with no matching relatives. REDMO, as a member of the World Marrow Donor Association, is linked to all existing Registries on the International Donor list (Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide). REDMO works with the 25 European Registries by means of the European Donor System (EDS), situated in the "France Greffe de Moelle" in Paris through a telematic system. In addition, REDMO is in constant touch with the USA, Canada and Australia. Once an application form from a Spanish patient is properly completed and received (1), REDMO starts the search for a suitable bone marrow donor. This implies finding on the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide list the possible donors who initially match the histocompatibility system of the patient who is applying. Next, REDMO contacts the National Registries where these donors are listed and requests the available donor's typing to be confirmed and enlarged, a step which takes place in the donor's home country. Finally, all the available possible donors showing a compatibility with the patient are selected and cross-tests are performed between the donor's and the patient's cells so as to obtain a completely identical bone marrow suitable for transplantation. These tests take place in the patient's home country. (1) The application form should include the complete histocompatibility typing of the patient, his/her parents and siblings typings ; diagnosis and phase of the illness; signature of the physician in charge; agreement of the Centre where the transplant will be performed. |
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REDMO, as a member of the World Marrow Donor association, is linked to all the existing registries through the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide network: |
REDMO είναι μέλος της Παγκόσμιας 'Ενωσης Δοτών Μυελού, συνδέεται με όλους τους γνωστούς καταγραφείς μέσω του παγκόσμιου δικτύου Bone Marrow Donors |
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In some
cases the autologous transplantation is possible. In those cases bone marrow
is obtained from the patient during a remission period and subsequently
reinfused.
At the
institutional level, agreements have been signed with the Ministry of Health,
the Consejo de Gobierno del Principado de Asturias, Xunta de Galicia, Diputaciσn
Foral de Navarra, Generalitat de Catalunya, Junta de Andalucνa, Generalitat
de Valencia, Gobierno de las Islas Baleares, Gobierno de la Comunidad Autσnoma
de Madrid, Consejo de Gobierno de Murcia, Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La
Mancha, Diputaciσn General de Aragσn, Junta de Castilla-Leσn and Gobierno
Vasco. These agreements are intended to promote the donation of bone marrow
and to collaborate in the typing of volunteer donors.