Factors Influencing Success and Failure of Human Marrow Transplantation: A Review from the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry

Abstract

It was more than 25 years ago that Lorenz et al. (12) first reported successful marrow transplantation in laboratory animals. Between 1957 and 1967 more than 200 human marrow allografts were attempted, but none of the patients had more than transient benefit (2). Improvements in histocompatibility matching of donor and recipient led to the first successful marrow transplants by Bach et al. (1), Gatti et al. (8), and de Koning et al. (11) in 1968. As a result, the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry (IBMTR) was founded in 1970 as a division of the American College of Surgeons/National Institutes of Health Organ Transplant Registry. Shortly thereafter, it was thought that a central registry of all bone marrow transplants would be useful to summarize experience and progress in the field. By 1974, it was apparent that a rapidly increasing number of marrow transplant teams were successfully performing marrow transplants. Because each marrow transplant patient yields a wealth of information relevant to transplantation immunology, cancer immunology, immunogenetics, and hematology, the IBMTR Advisory Committee elected to request comprehensive pre- and post-transplant data from all the marrow transplant teams in the world.