Reprint of: Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Global Overview Comparing Asia, the European Union, and the United States

• Haploidentical transplantation offers an attractive alternative in the absence of an HLA closely matched donor and is increasingly popular.
• Haploidentical transplantation is an especially attractive approach in developing countries or those with constrained resources because of overall reduced costs.
• A variety of immunomodulation techniques is practiced worldwide to overcome the inherent immunological barriers in haploidentical transplantation.
• Questions persist and are being actively investigated.

One of the major projects of the Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (WBMT) is to promote hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in emerging countries in the world. For these countries, HLA haploidentical HSCT (haplo-HSCT) from family members is an attractive approach because of its cost effectiveness. To learn the current status, including recent trends, of haplo-HSCT, the WBMT invited speakers from major transplant centers in 3 regions (Asia, Europe, and North America) to present at its annual WBMT Joint Session. This article represents the direct reports from these 3 speakers in addition to introductions by 2 WBMT speakers who address data from the Global Transplant Activity survey. It must be emphasized, however, that certain promising results of haplo-HSCT presented in this article were obtained at well-experienced institutes.