ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Between 1994 and 1999, 38,264 potential marrow donors typed for HLA- A, -B, and -DRB1 antigens had been recruited in the Korean registries. During the same period, 131 unrelated transplants have been carried out in Korea. In present study, the search procedure within the last two years for an unrelated donor at the Catholic University of Korea is analyzed. METHODS: The search for an unrelated donor for 287 patients was performed. Low resolutional HLA-A and -B typing was performed by serology and HLA-DRB1 typing was done by DNA-typing. We analyzed HLA match rate, the intervals between search activation and transplant, coordination success rate, and the reasons of coordination failure. We also investigated the RESULTS of donor search process through the Japan Marrow Donor Program (JMDP) and Tzu-Chi Taiwan Marrow Donor Registry (TCTMDR). RESULTS: At least one HLA-identical donor has been found for 54.7% of 287 patients in the first search using the Korean registries. As of the end of July 2000, 53 patients had received unrelated transplants and the coordination success rate was 33.8%. The average interval to transplant with the Korean registries was 128 days. The most common diagnosis in the patients who underwent transplantation was CML. Among 47 patients who registered in the JMDP, 25 patients found at least one HLA- identical donor. Twelve of them were transplanted. The average time to transplants was 149 days. Since February 2000, we have registered 22 patients in the TCTMDR. Four of them had one HLA-matched donor and transplants are now in progress. CONCLUSION: The donor pool is rapidly expanding and the patients who receive unrelated transplant are also increasing in Korea. From these data, we realized that the international collaboration of Asian countries would be very important for facilitating unrelated transplants for patients who could not find suitable donor in their national registries.