For those patients who have related fully HLA matched donors (apart from siblings), does the relationship with the donor influence the outcome? We observed that there was a significant difference in outcomes between those patients who received bone marrow from a fully matched father and those who received it from their mother. Our findings were published in Bone Marrow Transplantation of the Nature group in September 2017. As always, the findings are open access and available for anyone to read.
The focus on a particular disease condition, collaboration across institutions, extensive data management, real-time analysis and most of all a keen eye for quality and safety has put us in a unique situation where we are observing trends and patterns which remained unexplored so far. We consider it important to share our findings - irrespective of whether it reflects our success or whether it is a case where we face unusual challenges with the larger scientific and clinical community. The eventual aim of our team is to contribute to transplantation safety. This publication is yet another leap forward for us.
We aim at minimizing mortality and providing long-term improved quality of life through our transplantation program. Small steps like this one help in accelerating the journey towards our goal!