Patient Services :: Genealogy and Family Studies for Marrow Donors

When a bone marrow or other stem cell transplant is the best treatment option for the patient, a genealogy or "family study" will typically be requested. This process involves testing the patient's siblings and parents to determine if the patient has an HLA-identical match within the family. Patients share a portion of their genetic information with family members. The closer the relation, the greater the possibility of an HLA match, but even distant relatives may provide a suitable match.

The more family members who are tested, the greater the probability of finding a match. It can therefore be useful to recruit as many family members as possible to volunteer to be tested. If a family member is HLA-identical with the patient, Kashi Clinical Laboratories can also perform further testing to insure that this donor is the best match within the family.

If an HLA match is not found within the immediate or extended family, typically a search is initiated to find an unrelated, volunteer donor with the same HLA type as the patient. Genealogy web sites can help locate additional family members.

Below is a listing of genealogy web sites to get you started on your search:

Ancestry.com

MyFamily.com

DistantCousin.com

Please note that we find the above linked sites interesting but do not necessarily agree with all their content. BoneMarrowTest.com does not endorse or approve of any products, services, or advice except those directly provided by BoneMarrowTest.com, and any link is not intended to be, and should not be regarded as, an endorsement or approval of the linked site. Your use of any product, service or advice provided by the linked sites is solely at your own risk. Please report all obsolete links or any links of interest not included in the above list to our webmaster.