An overview of cord blood stem cell transplant

Umbilical cord blood is an invaluable source of stem cells for transplantation. In fact bone marrow as well as peripheral blood is also rich in stem cells. However, cord blood stem cell transplants offer more benefits over transplants with bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells. The blood is basically collected from the umbilical cord and the placenta which are detached from the baby’s body once it is delivered. After conducting the testing, the blood is frozen and then stored at the cord blood bank.

Stem cell transplantation is encouraged since this contributes to a number of advantages. The stem cells are responsible for the formation of blood and they are responsible for the production of the blood and immune cells. Three types of blood cells: red cells, white cells or platelets are formed.

Patients affected from leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes or other types of blood cancers can get a lot of benefit from stem cell transplantation. Other problems like inherited or acquired marrow or immune system disorders also get treated from the stem cell transplantation.

When the cord blood collected from the umbilical cord and placenta of the baby after its birth if frozen and stored after screening if it meets the requirements. This stored cord blood is called a cord blood unit. In fact the first cord blood stem cell transplantation was done in the year 1988 in Paris, France.

The patient was suffering from a life threatening form of anemia. However the cord blood stem cell transplantation might suffer from certain complications and thus it should be done at only the experienced centers.

There are a number of benefits that can be attributed to cord blood stem cell transplantation. The cord blood is easily available in private or public cord blood banks since it is already prescreened, tested and frozen as well.

On the other hand, it takes a lot of time to find and confirm marrow or peripheral blood donor. HLA matching is also quite important at the time of stem cell transplants. Many factors like successful engraftment, severity of graft-versus-host disease and overall survival are related to this. Closely matched cord blood unit is really important and this condition is met in cord blood stem cell transplantation.

Another complication is that of Graft-Versus-Host Disease. It has been found out that patients undergoing cord blood stem cell transplantation suffer less from this as compared to those who undergo bone marrow or peripheral blood transplants. There is even less risk of transmission of blood-borne infectious diseases in cord blood stem cell transplantation as compared to peripheral blood or marrow of related or unrelated donors.

However there are certain disadvantages of cord blood stem cell transplantation. It is a completely new technique and genetic diseases might be present in the blood which might not get detected and get transplanted to the patient via donor cord blood stem cells. There are also storage issues linked with this kind of transplantation. However, the fact is that this technique is getting more and more popular and a solution to a number of diseases.

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