Thalassemia major is the most common life-threatening genetic disease. Even though long-term supportive care with regular red cell transfusion and intensive chelation therapy for iron overload may prolong life-expectancy to the fourth decade of life, bone marrow transplantation remains the only curative option. Appropriate supportive care is quite expensive and may not be regularly available in most low-income areas. Without transfusion support children rarely survive beyond 5 years and with transfusions but no chelation therapy life expectancy rarely extends beyond adolescence. The overall costs of long term supportive care are well above those of transplantation, this trend will most likely increasing over time as chelation therapy becomes more expensive while transplant procedures tend to become simpler and more tolerable.

see also HLA-matched related transplantation for thalassemia major: A project to support a stem cell transplant network in Pakistan