ZKRD – Central Bone Marrow Donor Register Germany
Ulm (ots)
Even three decades after its foundation, the Central Bone Marrow Donor Register Germany (ZKRD) is still successful: In Germany, more than 10 million volunteers are now registered for a possible stem cell donation. This is the result of currently published figures from the ZKRD.
Stem cell transplants are the only chance of life for many seriously ill patients. They are often dependent on stem cell donations from unrelated donors. In Germany, the willingness to donate this life-saving stem cell has always been very high. Now the next milestone has been reached: over 10 million potential donors are currently registered. Each of these registrations gives seriously ill patients hope for a stem cell transplant – and thus also hope for life.
The ZKRD as a hub for stem cell donation
Various institutions and organizations are involved in the complex processes surrounding stem cell donation. These include the donor files, the search units and the respective transplant centers. In order to make the processes as smooth as possible, according to the Social Code, a central office must be appointed to coordinate the search and selection of unrelated stem cell donors. For 30 years, the ZKRD has been responsible for this task as a hub for stem cell donation – and successfully so. Because for the donor search within Germany, the ZKRD already reached another major milestone in January 2022 and became the world‘s largest national stem cell donor register. Here, too, the high motivation of the German volunteers was already evident. “Our thanks go above all to those who have already donated, to those who are already registered and also to those who are still registering. This is the only way we can help seriously ill people together with our partners involved. A special thank you is of course also to the donor files, because without them the registration of voluntary donors in Germany would not be so successful,” says PD Dr. Joannis Mytilineos, medical director of the ZKRD. Manfred Lucha, Minister for Social Affairs, Health and Integration of Baden-Württemberg, also emphasizes the importance of this milestone: “Giving patients a chance of life through stem cell transplants – this can only be achieved with a functioning network of all partners involved. As The Central Bone Marrow Donor Register Germany (ZKRD) coordinates the interaction of all those involved, from the search for suitable donors to the transport of the donated cells.We cannot thank you enough for this, the 10 million registered donors are an important milestone and give courage and hope for many sick people.”
New volunteers remain important
Despite the currently high number of registrations in Germany, the search for volunteers remains an essential factor. Because: Registered people can only donate up to the age of 60 – and in the coming years some of the previously registered donors will exceed this age limit. In order to be able to help as many people as possible in the future, it is important that many young people continue to voluntarily register as potential donors. For that, they don’t necessarily have to wait for a public typing campaign: On the ZKRD provides the addresses of all German donor files. On request, the respective donor center will be happy to send you the necessary documents for the typing. In this way, anyone who is interested can become a life-saving donor and seriously ill people can be given hope for life.
About the ZKRD
Since it was founded in 1992, the Central Bone Marrow Donor Register Germany, based in Ulm, has been the hub of the entire donor search process. The database of the ZKRD is used to compare the anonymized profiles of all donors typed in Germany with the data of the patients who need a blood stem cell transplant . With the help of the in-house software OptiMatch, around 60 employees of the ZKRD process domestic and international searches to ensure that the best donor can be identified for each patient as quickly as possible. Thanks to its global network, the ZKRD can also access the databases of international registers.
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Original content from: ZKRD – Central Bone Marrow Donor Register Germany, transmitted by news aktuell