Being without a sibling donor I have a few questions I would be grateful for help with- Is a donor always 100% match? If so what is the difference in effect between a stranger and a sibling? Is a donor always found? How long does it usually take? Is there an age beyond which a BMT is not considered safe?
You are here
Donor Matches
Our 13 year old has no sibling donor and the register has come up with a 90% matched potential donor. We were told by our Consultant that success rates for 100% sibling donor transplants are about 90% and using this 90% donor would reduce the success rate by about 2%. For children the first line treatment is apparently still to do BMT if there is a fully-matched sibling donor, but they have decided to keep him on Glivec because indications are that he is responding well. This will be reviewed after a year if things continue as they are currently. he was diagnosed last August. Being white caucasian makes finding a donor much more likely than if you have other ethnic background - our lad is mixed race, which is probably why there was not a 100% match on the register. Thank goodness for Glivec and its newer alternatives!! Other people will probably have better info than me, but I thought our experience might be of interest to you.
All the very best
kestrel
I am not myself a CML patient, but my husband Maurice Carter is. We thought it would be good to let you know that he has just undergone a transplant, i.e. 28.09.2006, with an unmatched donor. Our daughter has put a post on the site as he has just had his latest BCR ABL results the CML is undetectable, and he is 100% donor. Maurice did not have a sibling match either, and his donor was an 80% match, and so far all has gone really well. I hope this answers your questions, i.e. the donor does not have to be 100%. With regard to an upper age limit, we do not know what this is/would be. When Maurice was first diagnosed in June 2005 it was thought that a transplant would be out of the question because he was over 50, he was actually 54 at the time of the transplant.....
All the very best
Jacky