Berloni Foundation
against thalassemia
Thalassemia, in its homozigote form, is the most widespreaded genetic disease in the world. In the Mediterranean and Middle East only, there are over 200,000 thalassemic children. In Italy there are 8,000 and 250,000 are born every year. Their survival depens on the possibulity of transfusion from age of 3 to 6 months, every 15 days and receiving subcutaneous injections of desferrioxamine every day - continuosly - for serious anaemia and to remove part of the iron contained in the trasfusions. During the first 10 years the mortality rate in 5%, in the next ten years between 5% and 10% and after the age of twenty it reaches 50%.
Up until december 1981 thalassemic children and their families were left completely in the dark when it came the possibility of a cure. Since then, however, against all odds, criticism and biological barriers considered insurmountable, the Bone Marrow Transplantation Center, after surviving the initial mortalities has performed hundreds and hundreds transplants, 65% of them in thalassemic children. Today the 80% of those children are at home cured of the disease.
Apart from childrem Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria, Lombardia, Piemonte and alla other regions in Italy, transplants have been performed on children from Iran, India, Palestine, Arab Countries and many other nations including USA, Russia, Romania, Argentina, South Africa, Tobago. Due to the requests for transplants arriving from all over the world the current waiting list at the Bone Marrow Transplantation Center of Pesaro has reached 14 months.
The impact of this discovery in Italy on the international scientific community has been of
enormous proportions, but still more important has been the light of hope instilled in hearts
of the families with thalassemic children.
All results obtained at the Bone Marrow Transplantation Center are passed on to
University Clinics an Italian and foreign Hospitals who are committed to curing
Thalassemia by way of transplant protocol which is today known as "The Pesaro
Protocol". Due to the increase od doctors' request for clinical-scientific training at the
Pesaro Center, exchanges on an international basis are expected. To this end, scientific
and didactic collaboration programmes have been established, in according whit the
Ministery of foreign Countries, with various countries including Iran, Russia, Romania and
India. It is the hope that one day, in these countries, autonomous Bone Marrow
Transplantation Centers will be in operation, like the one already realized at Minsk in
Belarousse with the finances of the Berloni Foundation.
Prof. Guido Lucarelli
Scientific Programme Chief
Bone Marrow Transplantation Center
Chief Physician
Haematology Department
San Salvatore Hospital, Pesaro