2019 Volume 65 Issue 4 Pages 741-745
To maintain a viable bone marrow (BM) registry for unrelated haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantations, new donor candidates must be continually recruited. The Japanese Red Cross Society is collaborating with the Japan Marrow Donor Program (JMDP) to recruit donors.
In the past decade, 97.7% of BM donor registrations have occurred at blood donation sites. In a 2016 survey of new BM registrants, 80.8% indicated that they had donated blood within the previous two years. The BM donor application form then was changed to give donors the option of providing their blood donor ID number. In the one-year period from May 2017, 84.9% of new BM donor registrants provided their blood donor ID number.
These findings suggest that there is a marked overlap between people who wish to donate HSC and those who wish to donate blood. This indicates that our collaboration with the JMDP at blood donation sites is an efficient strategy and can be considered to the recruitment of reliable HSC donors. As the Japanese Red Cross Society manages both the BM donor registration system and the blood service registration system, the exchange or even merger of donor information from these systems would improve donor safety and work efficiency.
