Bone marrow transplantation in thalassaemia patients in Shiraz, Islamic Republic of Iran.

We report the results of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in 26 female and 37 male patients with beta-thalassaemia major (age range: 2-17 years), performed at Namazi Hospital over the period 1992-99. In all cases, standard conditioning and immunosuppressive regimens were employed. Currently, 50 patients remain thalassaemia-free, 9 of whom have developed chronic graft-versus-host disease. There were 8 deaths among the 13 unsuccessful transplant cases: 4 due to acute uncontrollable graft-versus-host disease, and 4 to non-transplant-related causes such as hypoglycaemia, hypersensitivity reactions and advanced disease. We conclude that allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is an effective therapy for the treatment of beta-thalassaemia major, particularly for patients classified as classes I and II.