Initially, the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit (BMTU) was housed at Agia Sofia General Children’s Hospital and was directed by paediatrician/haematologist Stelios Grafakos.

The transplant programme was launched in May 1993, following proper preparation and a coordinated effort from all the founding members of the team, which, apart from Mr. Grafakos, included Mrs. Kitra, Mrs. Peristeri and Mr. Gousetis.

The founding team, with support from the ELPIDA Association and Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, who is the Association’s motor force and soul, worked tirelessly, each contributing their knowledge, experience and personal effort to the creation of the Unit, operation of the Unit’s lab, and completion of the transplant programme.

The first purely paediatric BMTU had four beds, but because more children needed bone marrow transplants and precious time was being lost as they waited their turn – time that could mean the difference between life and death – the Association arranged for an increase in the number of beds, to eight, in 1995. But the number was still too low.

The problem was finally solved through the creation of the cutting-edge Children’s Oncology Unit – to which the BMTU was relocated – and there are now 18 beds, providing for immediate hospitalisation of children in need of bone marrow transplants.

The BMTU now operates on the 3rd floor of the Children’s Oncology Unit, together with three Haematology-Oncology Departments – Paediatric Haematology-Oncology Department (TAO), Special Treatments Clinic (KETH), Aglaia Kyriakou Oncology Department (OTAK) – again a donation from the ELPIDA Association to our country, treating children and adolescents up to 18 years of age.

Since 2016, the BMTU has been headed by paediatrician-haematologist Vasiliki Kitra-Rousou.

Since 1993, the Unit has operated as an independent Unit licensed by the Health Ministry.

The Unit’s transplant programme includes autologous and, mainly, allogeneic transplants with donors who are tissue compatible, incompatible relatives, or volunteer tissue-compatible non-relatives from Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide. The stem cell transplants used are mainly from bone marrow, but peripheral blood and umbilical-placental stem cells are also used.

The range of transplants has undergone impressive expansion through the use of alternative donors and tissues. About 2/3 of allogeneic transplants at our unit are from non-related volunteer donors.

Every year, fifty to sixty transplants are performed on children and adolescents with life-threatening neoplastic and genetic haematological disorders, with very good results that are as good as those achieved abroad (Europe, America) and with very low toxicity.

As such, many Greek children and children from other countries – Balkan, African and Middle Eastern countries – with serious, deadly blood disorders are treated and cured in our country, without the costly need to send patients abroad during the current economic crisis. 

The terms and conditions that must be met by Units Applying Primary Hematopoietic Cells (allogeneic and autologous), with regard to facilities, equipment, organization and medical and nursing staff, as well as other necessary procedures (ΑDΑ:OPF7465FYO-1P3) are stipulated in article 3 of the Ministerial Decision (Government Gazette 599/16-5-2002) and recently in article 57 of Law 3984/2011, Government Gazette II/384/2019, as follows:

  1. As mentioned above, the Transplant Unit is housed in the new ELPIDA building. It has 11 single rooms and 3 double rooms that function as single rooms, for a total capacity of 14 beds. All of the rooms are sanitized and have special high-performance ventilation systems with filters (HEPA 99.9%).
  2. The Unit has an outpatient clinic for outpatient monitoring of paediatric patients following the transplant, and a Short-term Hospitalisation Unit with four beds, equipped for intravenous administration of medicines, transfusion of blood products, and administration of cell therapies.
  3. It also has an Apheresis Department where Peripheral Haematopoietic Cells, T-Lymphocytes and Granulocytes can be collected.
  1. It has a fully appointed laboratory where haematopoietic grafts, CD34+ haematopoietic cells, CD19αβ- haematopoietic cells are processed and selected, with facilities for freezing and cryopreservation of these.
  2. The laboratory also carries out molecular monitoring of the Chimaeric condition of the graft following the transplant.    For the molecular screening of the chimaerism of haematopoietic stem cell grafts, the laboratory has Accreditation from the European Federation (EFI). Our laboratory is also a point of reference for the molecular screening of grafts for the Transplant Units of Attikon Hospital, Laiko Hospital and the University Hospital of Rio.
  3. It also carries out important research on cell cultures, production graft cells, IPS cells and ex-vivo expansion of cells.
  4. With Mrs. Vardionoyannis’s recent donation of a Prodigy platform, our laboratory can now produce cell therapies with multiple clinical applications, such as cellular immunotherapy for potentially fatal viral infections in patients who have undergone a transplant.The Prodigy platform also enables us to apply gene therapy and new, innovative cell therapies with CAR-T cells.
  5. As a JACIE-accredited Unit, we were chosen for the administration of a special CAR-T cell therapy in children in the coming months.

The Unit is staffed by very experienced and highly-trained personnel and has:

  1. Medical personnel:
  • 1 Coordinating Director, Paediatrician-Haematologist Vasiliki Kitra-Roussou
  • 1 National Health System Director, Paediatrician-Haematologist
  • 2 National Health System Directors, Haematologists
  • 4 National Health System Attending Physicians B, Haematologists
  • 1 Physician Assistant, Haematologist

           3 Biologists

Nursing personnel

  • 1 Head Nurse, Tzavara Charalambia
  • 1 transplant coordinator
  • 23 Nurses (20 Technical Education, 2 University Education) 2 ward assistants
  • 1 Secretary

1 Orderly

3 cleaning personnel

After the launching of the programme in 1993, six transplants were carried out in the first year, with the number of transplants subsequently increasing steadily – especially after 2010, when the Unit’s bed capacity increased.

Since 1993, in the 26 years the Unit has been operating, 1,000 successful transplants have been carried out to treat a variety of blood, genetic and neoplastic disorders, thanks to a constant team effort from all of the doctors, nurses, health professionals, psychosocial-support personnel and our child patients and their families. The financial and moral support of the ELPIDA Association and Mrs. Vardinoyannis has been constant and invaluable.

All of the stem cell grafts (bone marrow, peripheral blood, umbilical blood) are used.

Of the 1,000 transplants, 800 were allogeneic in children and adolescents aged 0.1-20 years, with an average age of 8 years.

The first autologous transplant was carried out in May 1994 on a 7-year-old girl with Ewing Sarcoma, and the first allogeneic transplant was carried out in January 1994 on a 12-year-old boy with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, with a tissue-compatible brother as donor.

In children with genetic disorders, 350 allogeneic transplants have been carried out to treat hemoglobinopathies, immunodeficiencies, and myelodysplastic and metabolic disorders.

Sixty-nine percent of the transplants were mainly bone marrow grafts, while 24% were peripheral blood, and 7% umbilical-placental. Fifty-four percent of the donors were tissue-compatible siblings, 39% were non-related volunteer donors, and 7% were HLA identical relatives. Autologous transplants were used mainly in children with stage-four neuroblastoma, brain tumours or lymphomas

Marrow malignancies were mainly acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, acute myelogenous, myelodysplastic syndromes and lymphomas.

The total five-year disease-free survival rate for all of our patients comes to about 70%. More specifically, this rate is 65% for patients with Acute Leukaemia, 75% for Lymphomas, 40% for Neuroblastomas.

Of the genetic diseases, Thalassemia is the biggest problem for our country, and the elective therapy with complete cure of the disorder is a bone marrow transplant. The survival rate of these patients following the transplant is 97%.  In children with Primary Immunodeficiencies, the overall survival rate is over 75%.

Impressive results were achieved in 16 children with Fanconi anaemia who underwent bone marrow transplants, with an overall survival rate of more than 86%.

In patients with Aplastic Anaemia, the total survival rate after transplant comes to 93%.

Our Unit is a member of European Bone Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), with code number CIC 752, and in April 2018 it gained quality Accreditation from the Joint Accreditation Committee ISCT-Europe & EBMT (JACIE).

JACIE accreditation will be a necessary prerequisite internationally for obtaining a license to operate a Transplant Unit, because only accredited units will be able to receive grafts from the International Banks of volunteer donors for patients who do not have a relative who is a compatible donor. About 2/3 of allogeneic transplants at our unit are from non-related volunteer donors.

This accreditation will bring our Unit international recognition and, at the same time, ensure high quality and safety for both patients and graft donors. It also ensures the movement of grafts between corresponding units abroad, as it is a safe way for any third party to certify that the grafts are selected, processed, preserved and used in accordance with the highest international standards in the world. The ELPIDA Association financed the JACIE accreditation process.

Our Unit’s transplant programme, with the expanded range of alternative donors and grafts, is continuing successfully and is applied to a large number of patients with a variety of disorders, with the aim of full recovery for children with life-threatening blood, neoplastic or genetic disorders.

CHILDREN’S ONCOLOGY UNIT

“MARIANNA V. VARDINOYANNIS – ELPIDA”

BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT UNIT

“AGIA SOFIA” CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

Bone Marrow Transplant Unit (BMTU)

Initially, the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit (BMTU) was housed at Agia Sofia General Children’s Hospital and was directed by paediatrician/haematologist Stelios Grafakos.

The transplant programme was launched in May 1993, following proper preparation and a coordinated effort from all the founding members of the team, which, apart from Mr. Grafakos, included Mrs. Kitra, Mrs. Peristeri and Mr. Gousetis.

The founding team, with support from the ELPIDA Association and Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, who is the Association’s motor force and soul, worked tirelessly, each contributing their knowledge, experience and personal effort to the creation of the Unit, operation of the Unit’s lab, and completion of the transplant programme.

The first purely paediatric BMTU had four beds, but because more children needed bone marrow transplants and precious time was being lost as they waited their turn – time that could mean the difference between life and death – the Association arranged for an increase in the number of beds, to eight, in 1995. But the number was still too low.

The problem was finally solved through the creation of the cutting-edge Children’s Oncology Unit – to which the BMTU was relocated – and there are now 18 beds, providing for immediate hospitalisation of children in need of bone marrow transplants.

The BMTU now operates on the 3rd floor of the Children’s Oncology Unit, together with three Haematology-Oncology Departments – Paediatric Haematology-Oncology Department (TAO), Special Treatments Clinic (KETH), Aglaia Kyriakou Oncology Department (OTAK) – again a donation from the ELPIDA Association to our country, treating children and adolescents up to 18 years of age.

Since 2016, the BMTU has been headed by paediatrician-haematologist Vasiliki Kitra-Rousou.

Since 1993, the Unit has operated as an independent Unit licensed by the Health Ministry.

The Unit’s transplant programme includes autologous and, mainly, allogeneic transplants with donors who are tissue compatible, incompatible relatives, or volunteer tissue-compatible non-relatives from Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide. The stem cell transplants used are mainly from bone marrow, but peripheral blood and umbilical-placental stem cells are also used.

The range of transplants has undergone impressive expansion through the use of alternative donors and tissues. About 2/3 of allogeneic transplants at our unit are from non-related volunteer donors.

Every year, fifty to sixty transplants are performed on children and adolescents with life-threatening neoplastic and genetic haematological disorders, with very good results that are as good as those achieved abroad (Europe, America) and with very low toxicity.

As such, many Greek children and children from other countries – Balkan, African and Middle Eastern countries – with serious, deadly blood disorders are treated and cured in our country, without the costly need to send patients abroad during the current economic crisis. 

The terms and conditions that must be met by Units Applying Primary Hematopoietic Cells (allogeneic and autologous), with regard to facilities, equipment, organization and medical and nursing staff, as well as other necessary procedures (ΑDΑ:OPF7465FYO-1P3) are stipulated in article 3 of the Ministerial Decision (Government Gazette 599/16-5-2002) and recently in article 57 of Law 3984/2011, Government Gazette II/384/2019, as follows:

Spaces – Support
  1. As mentioned above, the Transplant Unit is housed in the new ELPIDA building. It has 11 single rooms and 3 double rooms that function as single rooms, for a total capacity of 14 beds. All of the rooms are sanitized and have special high-performance ventilation systems with filters (HEPA 99.9%).
  2. The Unit has an outpatient clinic for outpatient monitoring of paediatric patients following the transplant, and a Short-term Hospitalisation Unit with four beds, equipped for intravenous administration of medicines, transfusion of blood products, and administration of cell therapies.
  3. It also has an Apheresis Department where Peripheral Haematopoietic Cells, T-Lymphocytes and Granulocytes can be collected.
  1. It has a fully appointed laboratory where haematopoietic grafts, CD34+ haematopoietic cells, CD19αβ- haematopoietic cells are processed and selected, with facilities for freezing and cryopreservation of these.
  2. The laboratory also carries out molecular monitoring of the Chimaeric condition of the graft following the transplant.    For the molecular screening of the chimaerism of haematopoietic stem cell grafts, the laboratory has Accreditation from the European Federation (EFI). Our laboratory is also a point of reference for the molecular screening of grafts for the Transplant Units of Attikon Hospital, Laiko Hospital and the University Hospital of Rio.
  3. It also carries out important research on cell cultures, production graft cells, IPS cells and ex-vivo expansion of cells.
  4. With Mrs. Vardionoyannis’s recent donation of a Prodigy platform, our laboratory can now produce cell therapies with multiple clinical applications, such as cellular immunotherapy for potentially fatal viral infections in patients who have undergone a transplant.The Prodigy platform also enables us to apply gene therapy and new, innovative cell therapies with CAR-T cells.
  5. As a JACIE-accredited Unit, we were chosen for the administration of a special CAR-T cell therapy in children in the coming months.
Staffing of the Unit

The Unit is staffed by very experienced and highly-trained personnel and has:

  1. Medical personnel:
  • 1 Coordinating Director, Paediatrician-Haematologist Vasiliki Kitra-Roussou
  • 1 National Health System Director, Paediatrician-Haematologist
  • 2 National Health System Directors, Haematologists
  • 4 National Health System Attending Physicians B, Haematologists
  • 1 Physician Assistant, Haematologist

           3 Biologists

Nursing personnel

  • 1 Head Nurse, Tzavara Charalambia
  • 1 transplant coordinator
  • 23 Nurses (20 Technical Education, 2 University Education) 2 ward assistants
  • 1 Secretary

1 Orderly

3 cleaning personnel

Unit Activity

After the launching of the programme in 1993, six transplants were carried out in the first year, with the number of transplants subsequently increasing steadily – especially after 2010, when the Unit’s bed capacity increased.

Since 1993, in the 26 years the Unit has been operating, 1,000 successful transplants have been carried out to treat a variety of blood, genetic and neoplastic disorders, thanks to a constant team effort from all of the doctors, nurses, health professionals, psychosocial-support personnel and our child patients and their families. The financial and moral support of the ELPIDA Association and Mrs. Vardinoyannis has been constant and invaluable.

All of the stem cell grafts (bone marrow, peripheral blood, umbilical blood) are used.

Of the 1,000 transplants, 800 were allogeneic in children and adolescents aged 0.1-20 years, with an average age of 8 years.

The first autologous transplant was carried out in May 1994 on a 7-year-old girl with Ewing Sarcoma, and the first allogeneic transplant was carried out in January 1994 on a 12-year-old boy with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, with a tissue-compatible brother as donor.

In children with genetic disorders, 350 allogeneic transplants have been carried out to treat hemoglobinopathies, immunodeficiencies, and myelodysplastic and metabolic disorders.

Sixty-nine percent of the transplants were mainly bone marrow grafts, while 24% were peripheral blood, and 7% umbilical-placental. Fifty-four percent of the donors were tissue-compatible siblings, 39% were non-related volunteer donors, and 7% were HLA identical relatives. Autologous transplants were used mainly in children with stage-four neuroblastoma, brain tumours or lymphomas

Marrow malignancies were mainly acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, acute myelogenous, myelodysplastic syndromes and lymphomas.

The total five-year disease-free survival rate for all of our patients comes to about 70%. More specifically, this rate is 65% for patients with Acute Leukaemia, 75% for Lymphomas, 40% for Neuroblastomas.

Of the genetic diseases, Thalassemia is the biggest problem for our country, and the elective therapy with complete cure of the disorder is a bone marrow transplant. The survival rate of these patients following the transplant is 97%.  In children with Primary Immunodeficiencies, the overall survival rate is over 75%.

Impressive results were achieved in 16 children with Fanconi anaemia who underwent bone marrow transplants, with an overall survival rate of more than 86%.

In patients with Aplastic Anaemia, the total survival rate after transplant comes to 93%.

Our Unit is a member of European Bone Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), with code number CIC 752, and in April 2018 it gained quality Accreditation from the Joint Accreditation Committee ISCT-Europe & EBMT (JACIE).

JACIE accreditation will be a necessary prerequisite internationally for obtaining a license to operate a Transplant Unit, because only accredited units will be able to receive grafts from the International Banks of volunteer donors for patients who do not have a relative who is a compatible donor. About 2/3 of allogeneic transplants at our unit are from non-related volunteer donors.

This accreditation will bring our Unit international recognition and, at the same time, ensure high quality and safety for both patients and graft donors. It also ensures the movement of grafts between corresponding units abroad, as it is a safe way for any third party to certify that the grafts are selected, processed, preserved and used in accordance with the highest international standards in the world. The ELPIDA Association financed the JACIE accreditation process.

Our Unit’s transplant programme, with the expanded range of alternative donors and grafts, is continuing successfully and is applied to a large number of patients with a variety of disorders, with the aim of full recovery for children with life-threatening blood, neoplastic or genetic disorders.

Contact Information

CHILDREN’S ONCOLOGY UNIT

“MARIANNA V. VARDINOYANNIS – ELPIDA”

BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT UNIT

“AGIA SOFIA” CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL