Principal Director and Head, Pediatric Hematology Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, India
Series overview · 14 articles
Bone Marrow Transplant for Sickle Cell Anaemia
August 6, 2026
Bone marrow transplant is currently the only cure for sickle cell anaemia, and India has become a leading destination for this procedure for patients from across the world. This series is based on a Jivo Masterclass session by Dr. Vikas Dua, Principal Director and Head, Pediatric Hematology Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, India, who has performed bone marrow transplant in India for sickle cell disease patients from many countries, including Nigeria, which he describes as the sickle cell capital of the world.
Why This Series Matters for Sickle Cell Patients and Their Doctors
Sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive condition. When both parents carry the sickle cell trait, each pregnancy carries a 25% chance of the child having sickle cell disease. Globally, around 250,000 babies are born with sickle cell disease every year, and about 75% of this burden falls on sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Vikas Dua notes that this number is projected to rise to 1,400,000 babies a year by 2050 if nothing changes. Sickle cell disease can affect any organ, causing pain crises, stroke, chest syndrome, eye damage, kidney damage and bone damage. Supportive treatments such as penicillin prophylaxis, vaccination, hydroxyurea and exchange transfusion help manage symptoms, but none of them are curative. Bone marrow transplant remains the only curative option, and worldwide around 1,500 such transplants have been performed to date.
What This Series Covers
This series explains, in patient-friendly language, how bone marrow transplant in India works for sickle cell disease: who needs it, how donors are matched, what cure rates look like for different donor types, the ideal age for transplant, how cord blood fits in, what it costs, and what recovery involves. It draws entirely on the clinical experience shared by Dr. Vikas Dua at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, a centre that has performed more than 150 transplants for sickle cell disease and over 1,800 transplants in total.
What Is Bone Marrow Transplant and How Does It Cure Sickle Cell Anaemia? | Sickle Cell Disease Burden in Africa: Why Bone Marrow Transplant Matters | Who Needs a Bone Marrow Transplant for Sickle Cell Disease? | Matched Sibling vs Haploidentical Transplant for Sickle Cell Disease | HLA Typing and Donor Matching for Bone Marrow Transplant in India | Why Africa Has No Bone Marrow Donor Registry, and How Haploidentical Transplant Solves It | Cure Rates for Sickle Cell Bone Marrow Transplant: What the Data Shows | What Is the Best Age for Bone Marrow Transplant in Sickle Cell Disease? | Cord Blood Transplant for Sickle Cell Disease: Is It Used in India? | Non-Myeloablative Conditioning: Reducing Infertility Risk in Sickle Cell BMT | Cost of Bone Marrow Transplant for Sickle Cell Anaemia in India | Life After Bone Marrow Transplant: Recovery and Immunosuppression | Bone Marrow Transplant for Thalassemia in India
This article is based on a Jivo Masterclass session conducted by Dr. Vikas Dua, Principal Director and Head, Pediatric Hematology Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, India. The article has been summarised with the assistance of an AI tool from the original masterclass recording. Watch the full Masterclass recording
This guide is based on a live Jivo Masterclass — Dr. Vikas Dua taught doctors across Africa on July 28, 2024.
Watch the full recording, or read the guide above.
FROM THE LIVE Q&A
Dr. Paul
What is the umbilical cord transplant about, and is it done for all babies or just sickle cell patients?
Dr. Vikas Dua
When a newborn baby is born, from the placental side of the cord, 25 ml of stem cells are collected and go to a public bank or a private bank, and later, if you want to do a transplant, you can use that unit. You can do it for any condition, but in India we don't prefer cord blood transplants because there are quite a number of issues with them — that's why we prefer adult donor transplants over a cord blood unit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a possibility for transplant in prostate cancer, and are there only two donor registry banks in the world?▼
There is no role of bone marrow transplant in prostate cancer — none, and no research on it either. On registries: the biggest bank is in Germany, the second biggest in the US, but there are many other banks in other parts of the world — there isn't even a single bank in Africa. That's one of the reasons transplants aren't happening in Africa, other than South Africa and some in Benin City, Nigeria. All of you need to come together and have your own registry, so that if somebody requires stem cells, you have your own bank — you people have to come out with the solution.
Can the same principles apply in children with cerebral palsy?▼
That's a very good question, but there is no role of bone marrow transplant in cerebral palsy. There are researches going on about whether transplant helps for cerebral palsy, but we don't have an answer in black and white — at the present moment there is no indication for doing a transplant for cerebral palsy.
Is there any age limit for successful bone marrow transplant in sickle cell disease?▼
Sooner is better — it is better to do a transplant early — but we have done transplants even for adults. I showed a picture of a Nigerian person, Mr. Buhari, whose transplant was done at the age of 34, and he's doing well.
How much does the treatment cost, including accommodation, if the patient travels to India, and how long would they stay?▼
For a matched sibling donor transplant, roughly it is around $25,000 for the transplant; for a half-match transplant it is around $35,000. For accommodation and other logistics you need $10,000 more — so roughly $35,000 for a full match and $45,000 for a half match. The stay is around three months.
How do you find HLA compatible donors, and if they have to be found in the family, what criteria are used?▼
We do HLA typing of the patient and siblings — there's a 25 to 30% chance the siblings are a complete match to the patient on HLA. So you need to do HLA typing and you will come to know whether you have a full match in the family or not.
What is the only curative treatment for sickle cell anaemia?▼
Bone marrow transplant remains the only curative treatment for sickle cell anaemia. Supportive measures such as penicillin prophylaxis, vaccination, hydroxyurea and exchange transfusion manage symptoms but do not cure the underlying disease.
How is sickle cell disease inherited?▼
Sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive condition. When both parents carry the sickle cell trait, each pregnancy carries a 25% chance of the child having the disease.
How many babies are born with sickle cell disease each year, and is this number expected to grow?▼
Around 250,000 babies are born with sickle cell disease globally each year, about 75% of them in sub-Saharan Africa. This number is projected to rise to 1,400,000 births a year by 2050 if nothing changes.
How many sickle cell bone marrow transplants have been performed worldwide?▼
Around 1,500 bone marrow transplants for sickle cell disease have been performed worldwide to date. Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon accounts for more than 150 of them and over 1,800 transplants in total across all conditions.
Which organs can sickle cell disease affect?▼
Sickle cell disease can affect virtually any organ, causing pain crises, stroke, chest syndrome, and damage to the eyes, kidneys and bones.
In This Series: BMT in Sickle Cell Anaemia and Other Haematological Disorders
- 1.Bone Marrow Transplant for Sickle Cell Anaemia
- 2.Why Africa Has No Bone Marrow Donor Registry, and How Haploidentical Transplant Solves It
- 3.What Is the Best Age for Bone Marrow Transplant in Sickle Cell Disease?
- 4.Bone Marrow Transplant for Thalassemia in India
- 5.Cord Blood Transplant for Sickle Cell Disease: Is It Used in India?
- 6.Cost of Bone Marrow Transplant for Sickle Cell Anaemia in India
- 7.HLA Typing and Donor Matching for Bone Marrow Transplant in India
- 8.Matched Sibling vs Haploidentical Transplant for Sickle Cell Disease
- 9.Non-Myeloablative Conditioning: Reducing Infertility Risk in Sickle Cell BMT
- 10.Life After Bone Marrow Transplant: Recovery and Immunosuppression
- 11.Who Needs a Bone Marrow Transplant for Sickle Cell Disease?
- 12.Cure Rates for Sickle Cell Bone Marrow Transplant: What the Data Shows
- 13.Sickle Cell Disease Burden in Africa: Why Bone Marrow Transplant Matters
- 14.What Is Bone Marrow Transplant and How Does It Cure Sickle Cell Anaemia?