For those hematologists who are not familiar with cord blood transplantation and who would like to quickly review the field, the Forum recommends the following:

1. The November 25, 2004 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (Two articles on umbilical cord blood transplantation for adults and an editorial). In the Annotated Bibliography, these articles are reviewed in II. Transplantation of Adults using Cord Blood Units. Click HERE.

2. Information on the effectiveness of double cord blood transplants in adults, see the following article: "Transplantation of two partially HLA-matched umbilical cord blood units to enhance engraftment in adults with hematologic malignancy." Barker et al. Blood 2005;105:1343-1347. This article is reviewed in III. Multi-Cord Transplants. Click HERE.

3. For a recent comprehensive review, see "Umbilical cord blood transplantation." Rocha et al. Curr Opin Hematol. 2004;11:375-85 This article is reviewed in I. Recent Reviews (citation #2). Click HERE.

Patients in need of a hematopoietic cell transplant will have a matched-related donor about one-third of the time. For those without a family member to serve as a donor, a marrow or peripheral blood cell product from a matched-unrelated donor can be obtained from donor registries (e.g., NMDP) about 50% of the time. This leaves thousands of patients each year who have an indication for a transplant but who cannot find a traditional donor. Cord blood transplants require less stringent HLA-matching and are therefore available for most patients in need. Should patients who do not have a family member donor and who cannot obtain a suitable matched-unrelated donor in a registry receive a cord blood transplant? Among the alternative options is to not perform a transplant even for patients with bona fide indications.

The data concerning the effectiveness of cord blood transplants (survival, GVHD, availability, transplantation of adults, etc) are encouraging and should be reviewed with the above considerations in mind. (One must also keep in mind that for some patients, particularly in the pediatric age group, many transplant physicians consider cord bloods to be the hematopoietic stem cell source of choice.)

Click on any of the following topics, including any of the recent and authoritative reviews to evaluate current data. You may also search for any topic and/or author by clicking on the SEARCH link in the navigation menu to access our comprehensive site search feature.

Please note that a link to an online abstract or full text version of each article is provided, if publicly available. Individuals with subscriptions to the journal may have online access to full text articles with a member sign-in on the journal's website. ASH members have online access to all full text articles published in Blood (initial sign-in required).

CordBloodForum.org would appreciate comments and questions.

0.	THE TOP TEN
I.	RECENT REVIEWS
II.	TRANSPLANTATION OF ADULTS
III.	MULTI-CORD TRANSPLANTS
IV.	REDUCED INTENSITY AND NON-MYELOABLATIVE TRANSPLANTS
	i.	CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTS
	ii.	MARROW AND PBSC TRANSPLANTS
V.	DONOR SELECTION FOR UNRELATED CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION
VI.	AVAILABILITY AND TIME REQUIRED TO OBTAIN CORD BLOOD VERSUS BONE MARROW
VII.	CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION IN CHILDREN
	i.	MALIGNANT DISORDERS
	ii.	CONGENITAL DISORDERS
	iii.	ACQUIRED NON-MALIGNANT DISORDERS
VIII.	GRAFT-VERSUS HOST DISEASE (GVHD)
	i.	GVHD IN BMT AND PBSC HEMATOPOIETIC CELL TRANSPLANTS
IX.	HLA MATCHING
X.	GRAFT-VERSUS-LEUKEMIA (GVL) ACTIVITY
XI.	RECENT CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION CONFERENCES
XII.	SICKLE CELL DISEASE AND THALASSEMIA
	i.	SICKLE CELL DISEASE
		A. CLINICAL ASPECTS
		B. NEUROLOGIC COMPLICATIONS
		C. BONE MARROW AND PBSC TRANSPLANTATION
		D. UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION
	ii.	THALASSEMIA
		A. CLINICAL ASPECTS
		B. BONE MARROW AND PBSC TRANSPLANTATION
		C. UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION
		D. IRON OVERLOAD AND CHELATION
XIII.	IMMUNE RECONSTITUTION
XIV.	ADVERSE EVENTS IN CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION
	i.	INFECTIONS (OTHER THAN EBV)
	ii.	EBV INFECTIONS / POST TRANSPLANT LYMPHOPROLIFERATIVE DISORDER (PTLD)
	iii.	IMMUNE CYTOPENIA
	iv.	DONOR-DERIVED LEUKEMIA
	v.	MISCELLANEOUS
XV.	NEW CONCEPTS IN CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION
	i.	ADOPTIVE IMMUNOTHERAPY AFTER CBT
	ii.	CO-TRANSPLANTATION OF CORD BLOOD UNITS AND MOBILIZED STEM CELLS FROM A THIRD PARTY DONOR
	iii.	PREIMPLANTATION GENETIC DIAGNOSIS
	iv.	IN-VIVO EXPANSION OF CORD BLOOD STEM CELLS
	v.	SERIAL TRANSPLANTATION RESULTING IN TOLERANCE
XVI.	STEM CELL PLASTICITY AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
XVII.	RELATED CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION
XVIII.	EX-VIVO EXPANSION OF HEMATOPOIETIC PROGENITOR CELLS
XIX.	MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS
	i.	MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS
	ii.	GRANULOCYTE TRANSFUSION
	iii.	REGULATORY ISSUES
	iv.	AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
	v.	HIV POSITIVE PATIENTS
	vi.	ACUTE RADIATION INJURY
	vii.	OTHER ITEMS
XX.	ARTICLES REGARDING BMT AND/OR PBSC WITH RELEVANCE TO CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION
XXI.	CORD BLOOD BANKING
	i.	OVERVIEW
	ii.	INFORMED CONSENT
	iii.	STRATEGIES FOR CORD BLOOD COLLECTION
	iv.	PROCESSING, CYROPRESERVATION AND INFUSION
	v.	QUALITY ISSUES
XXII.	BOOKS
XXIII.	AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY (ASH) ABSTRACTS 2007

Back to Top