Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant for Malignancies: A Hope or Hype

Cord blood is a rich and unlimited source of hematopoietic stem cells for allogeneic stem cell transplant to treat a variety of oncologic, genetic, hematologic, and immunodeficiency disorders. Since the first successful cord blood transplant in 1988, a large number of cord blood banks have been esta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indian journal of pediatrics 2013-08, Vol.80 (8), p.675-680
Main Authors: Bahl, Ankur, Bakhshi, Sameer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Blood Banks
Blood Specimen Collection
Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation
Counseling
General aspects
Gynecology
Humans
Medical sciences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Multiple tumors. Solid tumors. Tumors in childhood (general aspects)
Pediatrics
Special Article
Tumors
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Summary:Cord blood is a rich and unlimited source of hematopoietic stem cells for allogeneic stem cell transplant to treat a variety of oncologic, genetic, hematologic, and immunodeficiency disorders. Since the first successful cord blood transplant in 1988, a large number of cord blood banks have been established world over for collection and storage of cord blood for future use. Majority of such transplants are performed in children, however, the number in adults have been growing steadily in recent years. Results from various transplant registries reveals that a single cord blood provides enough stem cells to provide short and long term engraftment, and has low incidence and less severity of graft versus host disease. With a high booming birth rate and a large genetic diversity, India has potential to become the largest supplier of cord blood stem cells in world. To meet the future transplant need of the country sincere efforts from various institutes and government agencies are needed to increase the number of public cord blood banks in the country. In this article the author will focus on the issue of public and private cord blood banking; the role of physicians in educating and counseling families with regard to the utility of cord blood for donor itself as well as the future of umbilical cord blood transplant in India.
ISSN:0019-5456
0973-7693
DOI:10.1007/s12098-013-1046-3