Outcomes of a program to evaluate mother and baby 6 months after umbilical cord blood donation

Abstract

These data support the feasibility of a routine 6-month program of evaluating mothers and babies giving cord blood at a cord blood bank. Such programs may increase the quality of components stored for transplantation.

Reasons for exclusion of 6820 umbilical cord blood donations in a public cord blood bank

“…Most of our donors (99.3%) of the stored UCB unit completed the questionnaire; this high prevalence of participation was similar to that for the Milan Cord Blood Bank (94.5%) . They reported that among the 2315 donors there was one congenital urinary malformation, one protein C deficiency, one phenylketonuria, one mucoviscidosis, and one chromosomal abnormality (10q‐) detected by routine follow‐up 6 months after birth .…”

First report of donor cell–derived acute leukemia as a complication of umbilical cord blood transplantation

“…A program of active prospective follow-up at 6 months instituted by the Milan CBB identified 5 of 2315 (0.2%) cords that needed to be discarded on the basis of postnatal history, although there were no cases of malignancy. 25 CBBs rely upon the donor's parents to contact the bank should their child develop a medical condition that would make the unit unsuitable for transplantation. However, in one study, almost 25% of women who had provided informed consent for cord blood donation did not know how to contact the CBB.…”

Diagnosis of acute foetal distress does not preclude banking of umbilical cord blood units

“…Obstetrical criteria such as preterm delivery, rupture of membranes >12 h, abnormal foetal development and fever during labour remained exclusion causes for CB collection, except for the occurrence of warning signs of AFD during labour. All CB units in the study were processed for banking according to the CB bank procedure for characterization, cryopreservation, storing (Hubel et al , 2004) and follow up of newborns/donors (Lecchi et al , 2001), with the exclusion of those with Apgar score <6 for more than 5 min and/or with umbilical artery pH <7·20. The CB units collected following clinical and/or laboratory alterations (low Apgar score and metabolic acidaemia) were included in the study, but were not considered eligible for banking.…”