Bone marrow transplantation in immunodeficiency diseases

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has become the treatment of choice in an increasing number of primary immunodeficiency disorders. In many of these otherwise lethal genetic diseases, BMT can completely reverse the immunological abnormality and patients may be permanently cured. In this review, current approaches in the application of this treatment and results obtained in various entities of primary immunodeficiencies are presented. A significant prognostic factor for the outcome is the clinical condition of the patient at the time of BMT, and prompt recognition of these rare disorders remains an important prognostic factor for BMT.