Bone Marrow Transplantation
The first successful bone marrow transplant was performed in the late 1950s by Dr. E. Donal Thomas in Cooperstown, New York, on identical twins, one of whom had leukemia.
The first bone marrow transplant in Europe was performed in 1959 by a French oncologist named Georges Mathé on 5 nuclear industry workers from Yugoslavia whose bone marrow was severely damaged by an explosion at the Vinča Nuclear Power Plant in Yugoslavia. However, none of these transplants were successful.
The first successful bone marrow transplant performed in unrelated patients was again performed by Dr. Thomas in 1972, in a 5-year-old patient with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). The donated bone marrow sample was taken from a Danish patient.
The first transplant of bone marrow stem cells in Iran was performed on 1991/03/04 at the Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Research Center of Dr. Ali Shariati Hospital in Tehran by Dr. Ardeshir Ghavamzadeh and colleagues, and since then until the end of 2023, more than 15,000 bone marrow transplant operations have been performed in transplant centers across the country.
The most common forms of bone marrow transplantation include:
- Autologous transplant: During this type of transplant, the patient receives their own transplanted tissue (bone marrow). In this method, the patient's bone marrow is removed and exposed to anti-cancer drugs to kill malignant cells. The resulting product is then frozen and stored.
- Allogeneic transplant: The patient receives transplanted tissue from someone other than themselves or their identical twin (such as a brother, sister, or either parent, or someone who is not related to the patient). This person must have close tissue compatibility with the patient's body.
The most common diseases that are treated with bone marrow transplantation include:
- Some cancers such as: leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma
- Aplastic anemia
- Congenital neutropenia
- Sickle cell anemia
- Hemoglobinopathies such as thalassemia
- Myelodysplastic syndrome
- Some childhood cancers such as: neuroblastoma
- Hurler syndrome and adrenoleukodystrophy
- Immune system deficiency syndromes
- Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
- Primary amyloidosis
- Genital cancers: testicular cancer, ovarian cancer
Resolution related to the assistance of the Board of Trustees to bone marrow transplantation operations:
Resolution of the meeting dated 2008/03/03; Seventy million Rials assistance including:
- Forty million Rials of hospital hoteling and treatment costs
- Twenty million Rials cost of patient's medications during hospitalization
- Ten million Rials of material costs (including transplant sets and anticoagulant solutions)
The statistics of the Board of Trustees' assistance to bone marrow transplant operations performed between 2009 and 2023 are presented in the following table and chart:
