BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

Bone marrow transplantation can save a person's life in many diseases.

 

Bone marrow donation is extremely important because it can save the lives of people suffering from serious blood diseases, such as leukemia, lymphomas, and other blood cancers. Bone marrow transplants are effective in treating over 100 different diseases, including severe aplastic anemia, congenital anemias and hemoglobin abnormalities (e.g. thalassemia), congenital, severe immune disorders, and some metabolic diseases. Unfortunately, it is still not possible to produce bone marrow outside the human body.

 

Therefore, we need DONORS who will selflessly want to help the sick, regardless of their nationality and skin color. The Bone Marrow Donor Banks database is a database in which information about the so-called: donor histocompatibility antigens ( HLA ) is placed. This data is legally protected and is made available at the request of transplant centers looking for bone marrow donors for patients as well as for patients and their families.

 

Finding a suitable donor is very difficult. Their histocompatibility antigens must be identical or very similar to the patient's antigens. Thanks to them, the body distinguishes its own cells from hostile cells of viruses and bacteria. The first one accepts, the second one kills. If a patient receives bone marrow transplant from a genetically incompatible person, their body will recognize the transplant as an enemy. Then the patient may die.

 

The probability of finding a donor is 1:25,000 . It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Nevertheless, some genetic combinations of antigens repeat and thanks to this it is possible to find a person genetically similar to the sick person. Each nation has characteristic genetic combinations. That is why it is easiest to find a Polish donor for a Polish patient.

 

Currently, Polish registers include over 2 million donors and this number is constantly growing. Each donor whose genetic data is in the Donor Bank receives their identification number and only in this form is information about them transferred to transplant centers. The Registry watches over the security of donor data and is responsible for it and cannot share it without justification.