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Timeline

University of Wisconsin-Madison

1940s

Transplantation was used and became common during World War II. People needed blood transfusions as a result of the extreme radiation caused by war which led to bone marrow failure or death.

Red Cross

1950s

More experimentation with bone marrow grafts in animals exposed to radiation continued, which further led to studied on people. It was not known at this time that the bone marrow donor needed to be a genetic match.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

1956

The first successful bone marrow transplant was performed by Dr. E. Donnall Thomas in Cooperstown, New York was performed. A child with leukemia received a transplant with bone marrow from their identical twin.

1958

French oncologist and immunologist Dr Georges Mathé performed a human bone marrow transplant using non-related bone marrow on six Yugoslav engineers who were irradiated at different levels after a nuclear reactor incident.

1968

Bone marrow transplant with a matched related donor occurred at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Robert Good completed the procedure on a baby with a severe immune deficiency, using marrow donated by his nine-year-old sister, who was an HLA match. The match was determined by a blood test developed by Dr. Fritz Bach.

MPR News

1973

The first successful bone marrow transplant with unrelated patients occurred.

1980s

The National Marrow Donor Program and the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide program were established, finally making it possible for patients to be matched with unrelated donors.

National Marrow Donor Program

1990s

Transplants with stem cells in umbilical cord blood began to be used as well. Cord blood allows for mismatched transplants. Therapeutic advances have also allowed for half-matched transplants, such as from a parent or child, in recent years.

Nobelprize

2014

World Marrow Donor Day (WMDD) is established, it is celebrated all over the world in September.

2021

The New Zealand Bone Marrow Donor Registry (NZBMDR) lists approximately 13,000 potential donors who are willing to donate cells from their bone marrow to patients world wide.