Facts And Figures
- The 5-year survival rate of leukemia patients in the US has gone up from 14% in 1963 to 50% in 2003. This has been achieved through advances in chemotherapy and to a great extent due to the increased success of bone marrow transplants.
- The probability of finding a match with a sibling is 1 in 4, with an unrelated donor it is 1 in 100,000.
- The number of donors registered with the Indian registry in Delhi is less than 1000.
- There are 5 million donors registered in the US. Only 1% of them are South Asian, that is 50,000. Statistically we would be lucky to have one person find a match via the registry without a recruitment effort.
- On an average a Caucasian recipient finds 15 matches with unrelated donors out of which they can choose the best. The average Indian finds 0.1 match.
- US labs and registries have universally changed their HLA typing procedure to a mouth swab. All other countries conduct a blood test to determine HLA type.
- An estimated 135,000 people will be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2007.
- Savita is a school teacher.