Iraqi national bone marrow registry project

Shahrazad S Al Jobori^1*

Abstract

Every year, thousands of patients of all ages are in desperate need of bone marrow transplants which may be their only chance to survive. Some patients with aplastic anemia, leukemia, lymphoma or other cancers are lucky to have a family member who is genetically matched. However, about 70% of patients have  no matched relatives. Their lives depend on finding an unrelated donor, who has a compatible tissue typing. The relevance of such a project arises from the fact the markers, Human Leukocyte Antigen system used in matching are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone from their own race or ethnicity. WHO report released for 2014 regarding cancer registry in Iraq shows that Leukemia is the second leading cause of death among females & the third leading cause of the death among males, lymphoma and multiple myeloma are the second leading cause of death among males and the third leading cause of death among females. The registry can reside in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq or another big Province to facilitate donor registration and Human Leukocyte antigen examination supported by mass media campaigns especially focused on patients relatives, friends as well as medical and paramedical personnel. Recourses including expertise in the field of genetics is required as well as laboratory facilities for HLA typing, computer programming skills for data management, financial allocations needed and on the top of all it needs a political will and commitment for its adoption. Such a national registry would help patients in need for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and would be the starting point towards improving bone marrow transplantation in Iraq. As well as this registry can be connected to the registries around the world to allow for a more fruitful search for the patients giving them the chance of recovery and since BMT center in Iraq is only performing autologous BMT for leukemic patients, the Ministry of Health at the time being can coordinate with Iran for example to send the eligible patients for BMT. INBMR is an important project that would aid patients in need for BMT find a suitable unrelated donor, a problem found in 70% of patients.

Keywords: Bone marrow transplant, HLA typing, Ministry of Health, INBMR