Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in thalassemia

SCT still remains the only cure currently available for patients with thalassemia. Results of transplants in this disease have steadily improved over the last two decades due to improvements in preventive strategies, effective control of transplant-related complications and development of new preparative regimens. Currently, high-resolution HLA typing has enabled physicians to perform transplants from unrelated volunteer donors for thalassemia with results comparable with those obtained employing an HLA-identical sibling. The probabilities for obtaining thalassemia-free survival after transplant in thalassemia from an HLA-identical donor, family member or MUD are between 85 and 87%. Therefore, when an HLA-identical donor is present, the transplant of allogeneic stem cell should be performed as allogeneic gene therapy. In the light of advances in transplantation for thalassemia, patients with an HLA-identical donor should be offered SCT.