Faculty Collaboration Database

Special issues related to hematopoietic SCT in the Eastern Mediterranean region and the first regional activity report. Bone Marrow Transplant 2009 Jan;43(1):1-12

Date

12/02/2008

Pubmed ID

19043456

Pubmed Central ID

PMC3351791

DOI

10.1038/bmt.2008.389

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-58549083544 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   32 Citations

Abstract

Although several centers are now performing allogeneic hematopoietic SCT (HSCT) in the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) region, the availability is still limited. Special issues including compatible donor availability and potential for alternative donor programs are discussed. In comparison to Europe and North America, differences in patterns of diseases and pre-HSCT general status, particularly for patients with BM failure, are described. Other differences including high sero-positivity for CMV, hepatitis B and C infection, and specific observations about GVHD and its relation to genetically homogeneous communities are also discussed. We report that a total of 17 HSCT programs (performing five or more HSCTs annually) exist in 9 countries of the EM region. Only six programs are currently reporting to European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation or Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplantation Research. A total of 7617 HSCTs have been performed by these programs including 5701 allogeneic HSCTs. The area has low-HSCT team density (1.56 teams per 10 million inhabitants vs 14.43 in Europe) and very low-HSCT team distribution (0.27 teams per 10 000 sq km area vs <1-6 teams in Europe). Gross national income per capita had no clear association with low-HSCT activity. Much improvement in infrastructure and formation of an EM regional HSCT registry are needed.

Author List

Aljurf MD, Zaidi SZ, El Solh H, Hussain F, Ghavamzadeh A, Mahmoud HK, Shamsi T, Othman TB, Sarhan MM, Dennison D, Ibrahim A, Benchekroun S, Chaudhri N, Labar B, Horowitz M, Niederwieser D, Gratwohl A

Author

Mary M. Horowitz MD, MS Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Bone Marrow Transplantation
Data Collection
Health Services Accessibility
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Humans
Mediterranean Region
Polymorphism, Genetic
Registries
Tissue Donors
Transplantation Conditioning