Improving Resources for Patients

NMDP Partners with BMT InfoNet

The National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP) and the Blood & Marrow Transplant Information Network (BMT InfoNet) are working together to better serve bone marrow transplant (BMT) and blood stem cell transplant patients and their families. The NMDP and BMT InfoNet Web sites both offer helpful resources for patients facing bone marrow or stem cell transplants. The goal of the partnership is to enable patients to easily find the resources available on the two Web sites.

As part of its partnership with BMT InfoNet, the NMDP has become a sponsor for the BMT InfoNet Web site. As a sponsor, the NMDP helps support BMT InfoNet's services to patients while increasing awareness about the NMDP among BMT InfoNet Web site visitors. The BMT InfoNet Web site now has more links to the NMDP Web site of specific interest to patients who are considering a transplant from a donor who is not a family member. The NMDP Web site also has links back to the BMT InfoNet site.

While both Web sites serve bone marrow and stem cell transplant patients, the two sites target different groups:

• The NMDP Web site focuses on transplants for patients who do not have a matching donor in their family. It includes disease fact sheets, information about searching for an unrelated donor, tips on how to work with doctors after being diagnosed and transplant outcomes data.
• The BMT InfoNet Web site covers transplants for all patients, whether the stem cells are from a family member or an unrelated donor (an allogeneic transplant) or from the patient (an autologous transplant). It offers a program linking patients to transplant survivors for peer support, help with insurance problems, facts on transplant-related drugs and treatment news.

A strength of both sites is their transplant center directories. Though the directories have some data that are the same, patients can find different features in the two directories.

Choosing a Transplant Center: A Patient's Guide includes:

• Data about costs at each NMDP transplant center
• Data from an annual survival outcomes analysis of patients treated at each NMDP transplant center
• The one-year survival rate of patients transplanted at each NMDP transplant center broken down by diagnosis and age

The BMT InfoNet Transplant Center Directory includes:

• Centers that do either autologous transplants, transplants using stem cells from a family member or transplants using stem cells from an unrelated donor
• The number of transplants, by type, done at each center in each of the past three years
• A search feature that enables visitors to search for centers by type of transplant, diseases treated, location or patient age

The strengths of the two sites make the partnership between them exciting and promise value to patients. BMT InfoNet founder Susan Stewart explains that the NMDP site "has a lot of good data on donor and search processes and shows transplant centers' track records for patients with specific diseases, while BMT InfoNet's site has statistics that are useful to patients considering a transplant at a center that is not affiliated with the NMDP." Pamela Weisdorf, director of the NMDP Office of Patient Advocacy, says the partnership "allows both organizations to better serve the needs of patients who are diagnosed with an illness treatable by a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant."

BMT InfoNet and the NMDP are also working together to provide printed resources for patients. The NMDP and its partner, The Marrow Foundation^®, helped fund the publication of a new book from BMT InfoNet called Bone Marrow and Blood Stem Cell Transplants: A Guide for Patients. This comprehensive guide for patients undergoing an allogeneic transplant (a transplant using donated marrow or blood stem cells) is written by Susan Stewart of BMT InfoNet. The NMDP is working to translate Bone Marrow and Blood Stem Cell Transplants: A Guide for Patients into Spanish to reach even more patients. BMT InfoNet plans to publish the Spanish version in 2003.

For access to the patient resources provided by BMT InfoNet, see their Web site at BMTInfonet.org. For quick links to resources for transplant patients and their families on the NMDP Web site, see Patient Resources.