Comparative study of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from unrelated and related donors

We analyzed the outcome of 23 patients with hematological diseases who were transplanted with bone marrow cells from unrelated donors in comparison with 46 transplanted from related donors at a single institute during the same time period. Two unrelated donor patients and one related donor patient with CML failed engraftment. The incidence of acute GVHD was higher in unrelated donors than that in related donors(52% vs. 34%). However, there was no difference for the incidence of grade II-IV GVHD between unrelated and related donors (28% vs. 25%). The incidence and severity of acute GVHD decreased after applying HLA DNA typing. Two unrelated donor patients were died of acute GVHD within 100 days, but no one in related donor patient died of acute GVHD. These results show that HLA DNA typing and the management of acute GVHD are important in patients transplanted from unrelated donors.