Local News
Texas Oncology–Amarillo Blood Cancer Patients Now Have Access to Largest Blood and Marrow Donor Registry in the World
Amarillo Blood and Marrow Transplant Program Receives Special Designation That Will Result in Expanded Patient Benefits
02/10/2011
The Amarillo Blood and Marrow Transplant Program (ABMTP)
consisting of Texas Oncology–Amarillo Cancer Center, Northwest
Texas Hospital, and Coffee Memorial Blood Center, has been designated an
official National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) transplant center. The
Amarillo
program, which is the only program in the Panhandle that offers blood and
marrow transplants, is now one of only 132 programs in the nation to receive
the National Marrow Donor Program designation, and one of only 218 worldwide.
The National Marrow Donor Program is
a nonprofit organization committed to creating an opportunity for all
patients to receive the umbilical cord blood or bone marrow transplant they
need.
Blood and marrow transplantation are medical
procedures used to treat diseases such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, lymphomas,
multiple myeloma, immune deficiency disorders, and some solid tumors. Blood
stem cell and bone marrow transplantation often requires the donation of
healthy stem cells and bone marrow from a patient whose genetic make-up matches
that of the patient as closely as possible.
As a designated transplant center, Amarillo Blood
and Marrow Transplant patients will now have access to the National Marrow
Donor Program’s donor registry, called the “Be The Match
Registry.” The registry is made up of 9 million donors and more
than 185,000 searchable cord blood units, making it the largest and
most racially and ethnically diverse registry of its kind in the world.
“We want residents of the Texas Panhandle to know
that they don’t need to travel beyond Amarillo to gain access to a
nationally-recognized transplant program that provides the same level of care
and blood and marrow transplant options that are found in much larger cities,”
said Dr. Seah Lim, Texas Oncology–Amarillo Cancer Center hematologist
and director of ABMTP. “Now, our patients have access to many more potential
stem cell and bone marrow matches through the National Marrow Donor program
donor registry, which allows our physicians, nurses, and staff to provide an
expanded level of care.”
ABMPT was awarded this designation based on an
evaluation of its processes and physician training and experience, as well as
the clinical data produced from transplant patients. ABMPT also had to
demonstrate compliance with the latest knowledge of the field of donor cellular
therapy product transplantation.
ABMTP provides a one-stop, total-therapy approach to
patients with blood cancers. Since 2001 the team from the ABMTP has provided
stem cell transplant services to patients with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple
myeloma, and myelodysplastic syndromes. In May 2010, ABMTP was awarded official
accreditation by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy
(FACT). The accreditation is awarded to transplant programs that demonstrate an
exceptional level of patient care and medical and laboratory practices in the
United States, Canada, and Australia.
For more information about the Amarillo Blood and
Marrow Transplant Program, contact Texas
Oncology–Amarillo Cancer Center
at 806-358-8654.