Galery

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Does this mean that the Greek donor bank will provide transplants for the needs of patients from other countries?

Like all donor banks ours cooperates with the international bank of volunteer donors too. Every citizen who is registered as a donor is aware that he or she will provide transplants for the treatment of a patient in every country. This act goes beyond state boundaries. If we have a compatible donor here, we provide transplants for patients wherever they are located the same way we accept transplants from other countries.

Does the donor have to travel to the particular country?

No, he or she does not have to. The donor gives blood or spinal cord in the country where he or she lives. Then subsequently, the donor bank sends the transplant to any country in the world.

Would you describe the process by which a person can become a donor?

Firstly, those who want to be donors should have the desire to help others, be altruistic and aged between 18 and 45 years, as the younger the donor, the better.  When the donor is a sibling of the patient, he or she can provide bone marrow, even if he or she is over 70 years old.

The donors give some blood or saliva initially to enable us to determine their DNA profile and tissue identity and to make tests to determine the histocompatibility antigens. The applicant signs a document with which he or she agrees to become a donor.

The bank sends his or her data to the Hellenic National Transplant Organization and the international donor bank. If there is a patient whose DNA profile is similar to that of the donor, we call the donor, explain the process again and if the person still wants to provide a transplant we determine the day of the transplantation in the relevant country. The person has to come to us a day earlier to provide the transplant.

There are two ways to take stem cells. In the past, the usual practice was the extraction of bone marrow from the bones of the pelvis through a puncture. Today this is done only very rarely. In the majority of cases, the procedure is as follows: the donor has a subcutaneous injection in order to inject a substance that increases the number of white blood cells. This substance is found in the human body and it does not threaten it at all. Then subsequently, a special device similar to those used for blood donation is switched on to separate the stem cells. The process lasts about 2-3 hours and does not pose a risk to the donor.

You said that the treatment is successful in 80% of the cases. What happens when it fails?

The result depends on the general condition of the patient and on the particular disease. For example, in patients with thalassaemia who have to undergo a blood transfusion every 15 days the treatment at our hospital is successful in 95% of the cases. In leukaemia the success rate is 65% and in immunodeficiency 75%.

A major problem in transplantation is complications that may be direct, such as a severe infection caused by the reduced strength of the organism. However, there is the likelihood of the child's body rejecting the transplant. This is a common problem with aplastic and Mediterranean anaemia and a rarer one in leukaemia.

In the case of rejection, our first action is to look for a donor. If it is not possible to find one, we look for stem cells in the public banks of stem cells. Worldwide, there are about 500,000 transplants from cord available. Moreover, if a suitable donor cannot be found among siblings or volunteers, we can get the transplant from the mother or father of the child who are half-compatible with him or her because the child inherits half of the antibodies from one parent and half from the other. These transplantations are more difficult and risky but today we can succeed in 50% of them. I.e. today, every patient can undergo transplantation and regardless of the percentage of success, no one is left without treatment.

Do you cooperate with neighbouring countries for the treatment of patients?

We have admitted for treatment many children of Albanian origin, most of whom live with their families in Greece. However, we have had cases of children sent from Albania too. We have made transplantations in many children from Serbia.

I do not know if we have made transplantations in children from Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Probably we have, in Papanikolaou hospital in Thessaloniki, which is geographically closer to these two countries.

In every case, we are able to meet the needs of other countries. A few years ago, we had a budget for free transplants of patients from abroad. In today's economic situation, this is not possible, but I think that the issue could be regulated by an agreement between the Ministries of Health and we would be able to admit for treatment children from other Balkan countries as we used to in the past.

GRReporter report on the opening of the hospital is available below.