Stem cell transplantation for thalassemia.

Thalassemia, one of the most common genetic disorders, is considered to be a global problem. Several millions of the patients suffer from severe thalassemic diseases. Stem cell transplantation is currently the only curative therapy.

Purification of human hemopoietic stem cells for transplantation in Thailand.

Stem cell transplantation (SCT) has become the therapy of choice for many hematologic and immunologic disorders. At present, only 25% of patients have suitable HLA-identical donors. In an attempt to increase the donor pool for SCT in Thailand and Southeast Asia, we developed a program whereby parents and mismatched siblings can be used as donors.

Collection of cord blood stem cells for transplantation in thalassemic patients.

Thalassemia is widely distributed throughout the world and is one of the major public health problems. The use of bone marrow transplantation, the only curative therapy for thalassemia, is limited because less than 30% of the patients have unaffected and HLA-identical siblings as donors. Cord blood stem cells, an alternative source of stem cells for transplantation, have been successfully transplanted into patients with several diseases after myeloablative therapy.

Bone marrow transplantation for thalassemia in Thailand.

We report our experience of bone marrow transplantation for thalassemia in Thailand. From July 1988 to September 1992, 10 thalassemic patients underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Two of them were homozygous beta-thalassemia and 8 were beta-thalassemia/Hb E disease.