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  • Original Article
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Histocompatibility and Donor Selection

What are a patient's current chances of finding a matched unrelated donor? Twenty years’ central search experience in a small country

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 47, pages 172–180 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Between 1988 and 2007, international searches for matched unrelated donors (MUDs) were performed for 1586 Austrian patients. Between 2004 and 2007, a MUD was identified for 76.7% of the patients. Between 1996 and 2003, a donor was identified for 71.3% of the patients, and between 1988 and 1995, only for 53.4% of the patients. Search times of successful searches decreased from 7.7 months in the first period to 1.7 months in the period from 2004 to 2007. However, transplants were not performed in all cases in which a donor was found: only in 61.6% of the patients between 2004 and 2007, in 53.4% between 1996 and 2003 and in 29.6% between 1988 and 1995. Multivariate analysis determined that having a common HLA type was the most important variable impacting on finding a MUD for a patient. Factors that most strongly influence a patient's access to transplant were the patient's European origin and a short time between diagnosis and start of donor search. The strongest factor for both finding a donor and being transplanted was a search being performed during more recent years: patients’ chances increased from year to year.

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Acknowledgements

Dagmar Jenner is thanked for expert editorial assistance. This work has been supported by the Jubiläumsfonds der Oesterreichischen National bank, Project Nr. 6658 and by the Austrian Ministry of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Blood Group Serology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    A Rosenmayr, I Fae, G F Fischer & W R Mayr

  2. Austrian Bone Marrow Donor Registry, Vienna, Austria

    A Rosenmayr, M Pointner-Prager, A Mitterschiffthaler, L Bozic & B Pelzmann

  3. Department of Haematology, Hanusch Krankenhaus Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    H Tüchler

  4. Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, St Anna Children's Hospital Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    H T Greinix & P Kalhs

  5. First Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Oncology, Elisabethinen Hospital Linz, Linz, Austria

    Ch Peters & O Krieger

  6. Department of Haematology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    W Linkesch

  7. Department of Haematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    D Nachbaur

  8. Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Division of Pediatric Haematology/Oncology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Ch Urban

  9. Department of Blood Group Serology and Transfusion Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    U Posch & G Lanzer

  10. Central Blood Bank Linz, Linz, Austria

    Ch Gabriel

  11. Central Institute for Blood Transfusion and Department of Immunology, University Hospital Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    H Schennach

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  1. A Rosenmayr
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Correspondence to A Rosenmayr.

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Rosenmayr, A., Pointner-Prager, M., Mitterschiffthaler, A. et al. What are a patient's current chances of finding a matched unrelated donor? Twenty years’ central search experience in a small country. Bone Marrow Transplant 47, 172–180 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.67

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