World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) is an organization based in
Leiden
Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, that coordinates the collection of the HLA phenotypes and other relevant data of volunteer
hematopoietic
Haematopoiesis (; ; also hematopoiesis in American English, sometimes h(a)emopoiesis) is the formation of blood cellular components. All cellular blood components are derived from haematopoietic stem cells. In a healthy adult human, roughly ten ...
cell donors (used to perform what used to be called
bone marrow transplants, but now referred to as
hematopoietic cell transplants) and
cord blood
Cord blood (umbilical cord blood) is blood that remains in the placenta and in the attached umbilical cord after childbirth. Cord blood is collected because it contains stem cells, which can be used to treat hematopoietic and genetic disorders ...
units across the globe.
The global database with volunteer donors was founded in the Netherlands in 1988. Today, the Search & Match Service of WMDA is the world's largest hematopoietic cell database, listing more than 38 million stem cell donors and over 800,000 cord blood units. WMDA participants consist of 75 hematopoietic cell donor registries from 53 countries, and 53 cord blood banks from 36 countries.
These global hematopoietic cells from donors or cord blood units are used to transplant patients around the world with a variety of life-threatening blood disorders such as
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...
,
lymphoma
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...
,
aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia (AA) is a severe hematologic condition in which the body fails to make blood cells in sufficient numbers.
Normally, blood cells are produced in the bone marrow by stem cells that reside there, but patients with aplastic anemia ...
, as well as certain
immune system
The immune system is a network of biological systems that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to bacteria, as well as Tumor immunology, cancer cells, Parasitic worm, parasitic ...
and
metabolic disorder
A metabolic disorder is a disorder that negatively alters the body's processing and distribution of macronutrients, such as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Metabolic disorders can happen when abnormal chemical reactions in the body alter the ...
s.
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Transplant organizations
International medical associations
International medical and health organizations
International organisations based in the Netherlands
Medical and health organisations based in the Netherlands