International relationships have always played an important role in the NMDP's efforts to expand the pool of volunteer donors available to patients. The Japan Marrow Donor Program joined the NMDP network as a cooperative registry in 1997. This agreement allows physicians in Japan to search for tissue-type matched marrow donors on the NMDP's Registry of volunteers. American patients needing an unrelated marrow transplant will benefit by having access to approximately 100,000 potential donors in the JMDP registry. Marrow transplantation is a treatment option for patients diagnosed with leukemia, aplastic anemia and other life-threatening blood diseases.
Marrow transplants require matching certain tissue traits of the donor and patient.
Because these traits are inherited, a patient's best chance of finding a matched donor is from a sibling. Approximately 700 people from the NMDP's network centers in the United States and abroad are expected to attend. The many individuals who play roles in matching volunteer marrow donors with unrelated transplant recipients are brought together at this annual meeting to participate in workshops and seminars focusing on transplantation issues including umbilical cord blood banking and new methods of tissue matching. All Rights Reserved.