Blood disorders and bone marrow transplant
Everything here depends on one person existing.
Not a hospital, not a surgeon, not a price. A donor whose tissue type matches yours. If that person cannot be found, there is no plan to make, and that is the first thing we establish rather than the last.
A bone marrow transplant, sometimes called bone marrow transplantation, needs a donor whose HLA tissue type matches the patient closely. A full sibling has roughly a one in four chance of being that match, because the inheritance is a coin toss on two sets of genes. With two siblings the odds rise to about 44 per cent, with three to 58, with four to 68.
If no sibling matches, the search moves to unrelated donor registries, where bone marrow donation in India runs through a national registry that takes international searches. So the sequence is always the same: confirm the diagnosis and disease stage make a transplant the right treatment now, type the patient, type the siblings, then look outward. Nobody should be discussing hospitals or costs before that has happened.
Medically reviewed
Reviewed by Dr Gunjan Patel, MBBS, registered with the Gujarat Medical Council (G-65059). Last reviewed 18 September 2026. Reviewed for accuracy only. This page is general information, not advice about your own case, and Dr Gunjan Patel does not diagnose, prescribe or treat.
Before the arithmetic starts
Which version you need decides whether the donor question even applies.
The answer above, and the section after this one, both walk through donor arithmetic, because most of what brings families to this page is an allogeneic transplant, the kind that needs one. Not every transplant is that kind. Here is the difference, so you know which arithmetic is actually yours.
A stem cell transplant, often still called a bone marrow transplant, infuses healthy blood-forming stem cells into a vein through a needle. The cells travel to the bone marrow and take over producing blood cells there, replacing marrow that disease or earlier treatment destroyed
The infusion itself is simple, a needle into a vein much like giving blood. What follows is not, which is why the weeks of isolation described further down this page exist.
The name on this page is the familiar one. Hematopoietic stem cell transplant is the more clinically precise term in current medical literature, since most transplants now use peripheral blood stem cells or umbilical cord blood rather than marrow taken directly from bone; bone marrow transplant remains the more familiar, interchangeable name for the same procedure. about 70 percent of hematopoietic stem cell transplants in adults, per CIBMTR registry data from 1997 to 2006 published in 2012, used peripheral blood stem cells rather than marrow collected directly from bone, and the same registry data shows a shift toward peripheral blood and cord blood over direct marrow harvest in patients under 20 too; no more current dated breakdown by cell source could be verified. Both names describe the same operation, which is why this page keeps using the familiar one.
StatPearls (NCBI Bookshelf), 'Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation'; Sirinoglu Demiriz et al., Bone Marrow Research, 2012 Checked 2026-09-13.
NCI’s own patient page uses stem cell transplant and bone marrow transplant interchangeably and does not itself declare a preferred term, so this is sourced to the more technical literature as a synthesis rather than a single body’s stated preference.
The underlying CIBMTR registry data covers 1997 to 2006 and the review itself is from 2012, so this is a dated figure, not a current one. No cleanly dated current-decade breakdown by cell source could be independently verified against a primary source.
Allogeneic transplant uses stem cells donated by another person, a matched relative or an unrelated registry donor, and is the standard approach for higher-risk or relapsed acute leukaemias, severe aplastic anaemia in patients with a matched donor, and haemoglobin disorders such as sickle cell disease and thalassaemia, while autologous transplant uses the patient’s own previously collected cells and is typically used for multiple myeloma and relapsed lymphoma, rescuing marrow that high-dose chemotherapy would otherwise destroy rather than replacing marrow that is diseased. Matching a donor is a question for the first kind of transplant only. If the diagnosis is myeloma or a relapsed lymphoma, ask whether an autologous transplant, using your own cells, is being considered before anyone starts typing siblings.
StatPearls (NCBI Bookshelf), 'Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation', NCBI/NLM Checked 2026-09-13.
Reinfused autologous product can carry residual abnormal cells, one reason autologous transplant is not the default approach for the cancers usually treated allogeneically. Not every patient with these diagnoses receives a transplant; lower-risk or older patients are often treated with chemotherapy or immunosuppressive therapy alone.
None of this changes what most families reading this page need to know next. It means that when this page says bone marrow transplant, it is naming where the cells end up, not always how they were collected, and that the donor arithmetic below is what applies if yours is the allogeneic kind.
The question that comes first
The arithmetic of finding a match.
This is not a matter of hospital quality or budget. It is inheritance, and it is worth understanding before anyone quotes you anything.
25 percent
is the chance that any one full sibling is an HLA identical match, rising to 44 percent with two siblings, 58 with three and 68 with four, because the inheritance is a straightforward coin toss on two haplotypes
Haematologica, donor selection review Checked 2026-08-29.
That is why the number of siblings a patient has changes the whole picture, and why the first practical step is tissue typing the family rather than researching destinations. It costs comparatively little and it answers the only question that matters at this stage.
Where no family match exists, the search moves to unrelated donor registries. India has its own, and it does take international searches.
30 of 257 international
DATRI, India’s largest unrelated blood stem cell donor registry, holds over five lakh donors and reports 257 facilitated donations, of which 30 were for international patients
DATRI Checked 2026-08-29.
Published by the registry about itself. We cite it to show that international access exists and is uncommon, never as a prediction that a match will be found for any particular person.
Thirty international donations out of 257 is a real route and a narrow one. It means the answer is sometimes yes. It also means nobody should promise you a match, and we will not.
What we establish, before anything else
- Whether the patient has been HLA typed, and whether siblings have
- Whether a matched family donor has already been identified
- Whether an unrelated registry search has been started, and in which registries
- Whether the diagnosis and disease stage make transplant the right treatment now
- Whether a haploidentical approach has been discussed, where a half match is used
If the first two are unanswered, that is the work. Everything after it is premature.
Why this specialty in particular
India treats a great deal of what the Gulf and South Asia carry.
This is one of the few areas where a country's disease burden and an international patient's need line up closely.
Thalassaemia and sickle cell
Thalassaemia is the most common inherited genetic disorder in India, and stem cell transplant is the only established curative treatment for it
Peer reviewed Indian transplant literature Checked 2026-08-29.
These conditions are common across South Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, which means a family from the Gulf or with South Asian ancestry is often looking for expertise in a disease Indian centres see constantly rather than occasionally. Volume and familiarity matter in transplant more than almost anywhere.
Registry ancestry matters more than registry size
HLA types cluster by ancestry. A patient of South Asian descent is more likely to find a match in a registry with South Asian donors than in a larger registry without them, which is a genuine argument for searching Indian registries alongside international ones rather than instead of them.
33 percent versus 75 percent is the modelled likelihood, in the separate US donor registry and not in any Indian registry, of finding an optimal 8/8 HLA-matched unrelated adult donor for a South Asian patient against a white patient of European descent, the widest and narrowest ends being 75 percent for white Europeans and 16 percent for Black South or Central Americans, across the 21 US racial and ethnic groups modelled in the National Marrow Donor Program registry. 22.0 percent versus 17.6 percent is the modelled 10/10 HLA match probability, at an identical registry size of 100,000 donors, for the best-matched Indian sub-population searching a registry with the Indian-specific ethnic composition of DKMS-BMST against Indian-origin donors registered in the more ethnically mixed DKMS UK donor pool, showing a registry’s ancestry composition changes the odds independent of its size.
Gragert L, Eapen M, Williams E, et al., "HLA Match Likelihoods for Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Grafts in the U.S. Registry", New England Journal of Medicine, 2014;371(4):339-348 Checked 2026-09-18.
This models one large US registry, the NMDP/Be The Match system, not any Indian registry, and its finest breakdown is a broad "South Asian" category; the paper does not specify which nationalities are pooled into that category. Cited to show match likelihood varies by ancestry, not as a prediction for any Indian registry search.
DKMS-BMST, renamed DKMS Foundation India from 1 February 2025, is a registry distinct from DATRI, the registry this page cites elsewhere, and this page does not otherwise name it. This is a modelled probability at a matched registry size, not an audited real-world search outcome, and DATRI has not itself published an equivalent ethnicity-broken-out match-probability analysis for comparison.
This is one of the few places where the destination changes the odds rather than the price.
Autologous is a different operation entirely
As covered earlier on this page, this is the one path here where no donor is needed. What is worth adding: the risks, the length of stay and the aftercare are all different from an allogeneic transplant, and the two should never be compared as though they are the same procedure.
What this asks of you
Measured in months, not weeks.
This is the longest and hardest journey we coordinate, and it should be described accurately before anyone commits to it.
What the stay involves
- Weeks in protective isolation while the new marrow establishes, with visiting restricted
- A stay measured in months rather than the days or weeks that surgical travel involves
- A donor who may also need to travel, be assessed and recover
- Immunosuppression afterwards, with the risk of graft versus host disease that needs watching for a long time
- Repeated blood counts and clinic visits well after you are home
Our ninety days of coordination cover the return home and the handover. They do not cover the years of follow-up that an allogeneic transplant can involve, and we would rather say that than let you assume otherwise.
What that means practically is that your haematology team at home has to be part of the plan from the start, not informed at the end. Somebody there will be managing immunosuppression, watching for graft versus host disease and reading the counts. If that person has not agreed to it before you travel, the plan has a hole in it. What US and UK guidance say about live vaccines after chemotherapy is gathered in our guide to travelling with a weakened immune system.
Where we would say no
Most enquiries about this should end in the free conversation.
That is an unusual thing for a company to publish about its own highest value service. It is also true.
Reasons we would tell you to stay
- No donor has been identified and no registry search has begun. There is nothing to arrange yet, and typing can be done where you are
- The disease is not in a state where transplant is the current recommendation. That is a question for your haematologist, not for a travel decision
- Treatment is already underway at home and moving it would interrupt a working protocol
- Nobody at home has agreed to manage immunosuppression and long term follow-up
- The patient is not well enough to fly, or to be away for months
We charge a fee for advice and take nothing from any hospital, so a conversation that ends in do not travel costs us the case and nothing else. In this specialty that is the commonest honest outcome, and pretending otherwise would be the easiest money on this website.
Where travelling does make sense, it is usually a specific situation: a matched donor exists, the disease is in the right state, the home team is engaged, and the family can be away for months.
Seven situations where staying where you are is the better decision
Questions
What families ask about transplant abroad.
My child needs a transplant and no sibling matches. What now?
The next step is an unrelated registry search, and it can run in several registries at once. Ancestry matters, so a search that includes registries with donors of similar background is worth asking about. This is work your haematology team starts, and our part is making sure the question has been asked rather than assumed.
Can a parent be a donor?
A parent is a half match rather than a full one. Haploidentical transplant using a half matched family member is an established approach and it has changed what is possible for patients without a full match, but it carries a different risk profile. Whether it suits a particular case is a decision for the treating team.
How long would we need to be away?
Months rather than weeks, and longer than any other journey we coordinate. Isolation alone runs for weeks, and clinic visits continue after discharge before anyone is cleared to fly. Any figure quoted before the case is assessed is a guess, and we push for a realistic range in writing.
Will you tell us our chances?
No, and neither should anyone else from a website. Outcome depends on the disease, the stage, the age, the match and the centre, and a percentage taken from a published cohort tells you about that cohort rather than about your family. Your treating haematologist can discuss it with your records in front of them, and that is the conversation worth having.
Does this cover a kidney or liver transplant?
No. Solid organ transplant is governed separately, including authorisation committee approval for foreign nationals under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act. That is covered on the transplant page.
Start with the donor question, not the destination.
Thirty minutes, free. If no match has been found yet, that is what we will talk about, and there will be nothing to sell you.