Each year, more than 30,000 people are diagnosed with leukemia, aplastic anemia, and other life-threatening blood diseases. The best hope for these patients is a transplant of healthy marrow from someone who shares their tissue type.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Department of Transfusion Medicine operates a Marrow Donor Center for the education, recruitment, and testing of healthy persons interested in becoming potential marrow donors. Persons registering for this program are tested for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type, and this information is entered in a national registry managed by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). If a volunteer participant in this program is found by the NMDP to be a "perfect" HLA match for a patient in need of a bone marrow transplant, then the NIH Marrow Donor Center will notify and counsel the donor, arrange for the collection of marrow in a local NMDP-approved hospital, and coordinate transportation of the marrow to the patient requiring the transplant. Marrow-derived blood stem cells may also be collected by a procedure known as apheresis. Prior to this procedure, a medication is given to the donor that causes marrow-derived stem cells to leave the marrow and circulate in the blood. The marrow stem cells can then be collected by an apheresis device, using a needle placed in each arm. More than 6,000,000 people are currently registered with the NMDP as potential marrow donors, and approximately 55,000 of these individuals have joined the registry through their participation in the NIH Marrow Donor Center.

The characteristics of marrow tissue type are inherited in the same way as hair and eye color. The best chance of finding a matched donor is from a sibling. However, 70% of patients do not find a suitable match within their own families. These patients must find an unrelated matched person with healthy marrow, most likely from their same racial or ethnic background.

The NMDP and the NIH Marrow Donor Program are committed to increasing the number of potential donors of minority background to provide a better chance to find a "match" for minority patients.

Interested individuals may contact the NIH Marrow Donor Center:
Telephone: (301) 496-0572
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 357
Rockville, MD 20852