Problems in Umbilical Cord Blood Collection

Abstract

The goal of the Cord Blood Bank Basel is to provide umbilical cord blood (UCB) for allogeneic stem cell transplantations from unrelated donors. Our registry contains 1,044 units, 12 have been released for transplantation (1%). In the past collection mainly took place at the Women’s Hospital Basel, where only 10% of deliveries resulted in HLA-typed and frozen transplants. The aim of our study was to evaluate the high deferral rate. Materials and Methods: During a 4-week period we assessed every delivery at our hospital by a questionnaire on patient data, consent procedure, inclusion or exclusion criteria and reasons for performing or not performing UCB collection. Results: 164 women delivered at our institution (135 vaginal deliveries, 29 cesarean sections). Among these, 131 were eligible for autologous UCB donation, whereas 33 women had to be excluded due to their medical history (26), triplet delivery (1), post partum hemorrhage (1), congenital malformation (1) or chorioamnionitis (4). Of the eligible women, 17 refused donating UCB, and 29 women underwent a cesarean section. 11 women were admitted under painful contractions. 18 had to be rejected due to lack of laboratory facilities at the weekend. Finally, 43 UCB samples had been taken, 2 for private banking purposes (4.6%), 21 (48.8%) for the public bank, and 20 samples (46.5%) which had to be discarded due to a low cell count. Conclusions: Donor selection is efficiently performed before the collection process. The rate of donor deferral and UCB sample discard is high and comparable to other UCB banks. The yield of UCB transplants could be increased if UCB collection would be additionally performed during cesarean section and with increased laboratory facilities during the weekend.