Jada Bascom Foundation
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Autoimmune conditions

Crohn disease

Also called: CD · Crohn ileitis · Crohn colitis · fistulizing Crohn disease · Crohn's disease · Regional enteritis · Granulomatous enteritis

What a donor has to do with this

A transplant is not a standard part of treating this condition. It is used rarely, in particular situations, and most people diagnosed with it will not have one.

This is our reading of published transplant guidelines for this condition, not a measurement of how many people need a donor. Where a source actually counted donors, the figure and the people it counted are shown further down. Where none did, we say so rather than estimate.

This page is not written out in full yet

We have not written this condition out in full yet. What is on this page — how a donor fits in, who it affects, and the sources behind that — is researched and linked, but the plain-English explanation of the condition itself is still to come.

What the evidence says

Who it affects
The UK NHS Crohn-disease profile reviewed in 2025 reports that symptoms most commonly begin in teenagers and younger adults, although the disease can occur at any age.
Treatments other than a transplant
Corticosteroids for induction; conventional immunomodulators such as thiopurines or methotrexate in selected settings.; Biologic and targeted therapies include infliximab/adalimumab, vedolizumab, ustekinumab, risankizumab, and upadacitinib, selected by phenotype and region.; Endoscopic management, nutrition, and surgery remain alternatives; surgery may be unacceptable when it would cause short bowel or permanent stoma.
If a transplant is used, the cells come from
autologous mobilized peripheral-blood stem cells (dominant contemporary source); usually unmanipulated autologous peripheral-blood grafts; CD34 selection has also been used; bone marrow: not reported in the opened disease-specific sources; cord blood: not reported in the opened disease-specific sources
How often the donor was unrelated
Not reported. No source we could read states this for this condition, so we do not give a number. An estimate here would be a guess dressed as evidence.

Where this gets complicated

The ASTIC randomized trial missed a stringent primary composite endpoint, whereas pooled/long-term and registry analyses found substantial responses; relapse is common.; Some relapsing patients regain sensitivity to therapies that failed before HCT, so HCT may reset treatment responsiveness rather than permanently cure Crohn disease.; A later conditioning trial was stopped for unexpected severe toxicity, reinforcing the need for protocol- and centre-specific caution.

Registries need people

An unrelated donor is not a usual part of treating this condition. Registering still matters, for the many conditions where it is.

Joining a registry is a cheek swab and a short health form. You are not matched to a condition — you are matched to a person, and it could be someone with any of the conditions in this library. You are contacted only if you turn out to be a possible match for someone, and you can ask questions and decline before anything else happens.

Find your registry

Related conditions

Others in autoimmune conditions. They are genuinely different diseases with different treatments — the group name is not a diagnosis.

Where this came from

Crohn disease — what a bone marrow donor has to do with it | Jada Bascom Foundation