Searching for a donor

Finding a donor is a one-in-a-million long shot. Well actually, there's technically a one in one hundred thousand chance of finding a donor. There are a number of phases to searching, and they are:

The Preliminary Search

Initially, there is a preliminary search to identify a suitable donor for a patient i.e. a volunteer adult or a cord blood unit with the closest HLA (tissue type) match. By international convention, there is no charge for a preliminary search. Potential donors are identified using the local database and the international database of Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW), and at this stage the match is “on paper”.

The Active Donor Search

Based on the results of the preliminary search, the patient’s physician will decide whether to activate the search. An active search has the following phases:

Phase 1 Activation of Search

In consultation with the physician in charge of the patient, a donor testing strategy will be agreed upon and the patient will be levied a once-off, non-refundable, professional fee by the SABMR to activate the search.

Phase 2 Extended Typing of Donors

The time period and costing of this phase cannot be estimated. It depends on how many donors are tested and how quickly a suitable donor can be identified (costs vary depending on the number of donors requested for testing and the tests required). The registry consults with the patient’s doctor and acts only on the doctor’s instruction. Costs depend on the extent of HLA-typing required, e.g.: HLA-A,B,C, DRB1, DQB1 (high resolution), and, where applicable, an International Activation Fee.

Phase 3 Confirmatory Typing

Once a donor has been selected then the mandatory verification of the donor’s typing needs to be performed. Confirmatory typing including infectious disease markers and preliminary donor assessment. Preliminary donor medical assessment HLA Class I High resolution typing (selected donor/recipient pairs only)

Phase 4 Procurement

Once the donor has been suitably typed, then procurement can proceed. This depends on if the donor is local or abroad. Marrow is harvested from the donor and given to Stefan