Bone marrow transplantation for beta-thalassemia

Bone marrow transplantation in thalassemia represents the only form of radi cal cure of this disease. Patients younger than 17 years are divided into t hree classes of risk according to the presence or absence of portal fibrosi s, hepatomegaly, and history of adequate chelation treatment. Patients olde r than 16 years are categorized as adult thalassemics. Survival and event-f ree survival are 93% and 91% for Class 1, 87% and 83% for Class 2, and 79% and 58% for Class 3, respectively. Adult patient survival is 66% and event- free survival is 62%.