2023-11-15 15:28:43
In Austria, an average of three people get blood cancer every day. The probability of finding a suitable stem cell donor is only 1:500,000.
According to Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG), around 119,000 people in Austria are registered as possible stem cell donors. But since an average of three people get blood cancer every day in this country and the probability of finding a suitable donor is only 1:500,000, more is needed. The Red Cross has been drawing attention to this since Wednesday with a short film on the topic and is recruiting volunteers between the ages of 18 and 35.
The professionally produced film with the title “Stem Cells – the Invisible Miracle” spans the spectrum from simple, graphically accompanied background information about stem cells, to the simple registration using a cheek swab that can be carried out at home, to the collection of stem cells from a donor and the recovery of a person in Vienna’s St .Anna Children’s Hospital treated little boy for leukemia (blood cancer) through a stem cell donation. Numerous local stem cell donors were invited to the Horticultural Cinema to present the almost 19-minute documentary.
The occasion was also the five-year anniversary of the possibility of stem cell donation at the Austrian Red Cross (ÖRK). Since then, around 60,000 potential donors have registered, making more than 100 stem cell transplants possible, it was emphasized. “We have to continue to improve,” said WCC federal rescue commander Gerry Foitik. Eight to ten percent of patients who would need stem cells from donors do not receive them.
“It helps if there are more donors,” explained Wolfgang Holter, medical director at the St. Anna Children’s Hospital. First we look in the family, there is a 1:4 chance of finding a suitable donor if you have siblings. But even in families with many siblings there is no guarantee of this. The search then leads to the global stem cell registry, which includes around 40 million people.
For the donors recorded therein, the probability of a donation occurring is 1:100, Holter reported. Those eligible are 18 to 35-year-old women and men who are not chronically ill, explained transfusion doctor Ursula Kreil, the deputy medical director of the WCC blood donation center. If the donor is then needed and selected over the next few years, there will be a preliminary examination and then a blood sample lasting several hours, during which stem cells will be filtered out of the blood and the remaining components will be returned to the body.
The stem cell donation campaigns at the Red Cross – as well as the film now being presented – are financed with the support of Uniqa Insurance. In 2018, the main actor in a planned Uniqa campaign was suffering from leukemia. This inspired the company to launch the initiative with the WCC, reported Peter Eichler, Uniqa board member for personal insurance and asset management.
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