In the current issue of the Supplement of Bone Marrow Transplantation, you will find short manuscripts of invited speakers, as well as the Abstracts of the 5th bi-annual Pediatric Diseases Working Party of the European Blood and Marrow Transplantation Group. Last June, 135 physicians and researchers involved in the field of pediatric stem cell transplantation from 20 European countries attended the Pediatric Diseases Working Party of the European Blood and Marrow Transplantation in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. Even six participants from Australia and the United States participated. In total, 54 lectures were given and 44 posters were presented.
Clearly beyond its infancy and childhood, the Pediatric Diseases Working Party has now attained its adolescent years. Besides interesting case reports in the Poster session, keynote lectures on topics like T-cell function and NK-cell function in the concept of stem cell transplantation were presented in order to educate the participants. In addition to many presentations on the role of stem cell transplantation in the different leukemias, all the major pediatric entities like bone marrow failures (myeloid dysplastic syndromes, severe aplastic anemia, Fanconi anemia, thalassemia), autoimmune diseases, inborn errors of metabolism, immunodeficiency's and solid tumors sometimes requiring stem cell transplantation obtained the appropriate attention. New development in techniques and research with respect to non-myeloablative conditioning, haplo-identical transplantation, minimal residual disease, graft-versus-leukemia, immune modulation and immunotherapy were extensively presented. And finally, the major complications of stem cell transplantation like graft-versus-host disease, infectious complications and the late effects were discussed at length. Where can we further expand our knowledge and how can we improve our overall outcome. Finally, an overview of what we have accomplished within pediatric stem cell transplantation over the years is included. We hope you will enjoy this Supplement that should be considered a joint effort of all of us joined within the Pediatric Diseases Working Party in which we share information and participate in national and international studies. The field of stem cell transplantation in pediatrics has clearly borne and matured rich fruit.
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