Bone marrow transplantation from a cadaveric donor

A 2.5-year-old girl with neurogenic Gaucher's disease was transplanted,vith donor bone marrow from her HLA-compatible 12 year-old brother whose marrow was harvested 30 min post-mortem, after he suffered a severe head and neck injury. The marrow was stored in liquid nitrogen for 30 days prior to infusion, The posttransplantation period was uneventful with good engraftment and no signs of graft-versus-host disease, Currently, 6 months post-allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (alloBMT), analysis of both bone marrow and blood samples by PCR documented only cells of donor origin. This case demonstrates the feasibility of cadaveric marrow as a source of donor cells. To our knowledge, this patient is the only survivor of alloBMT from a cadaveric donor.