Contreras M

Language: English
References: 0
Page: 60-61
PDF size: 27.48 Kb.

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The first successful transplant using umbilical cord blood (UCB) was performed by Gluckman in 1988 on a patient with Fanconi’s anaemia using cord blood from an HLA identical sibling. At present, over 2500 patients with conditions such as leukaemia, bone marrow failure and congenital immunodeficiencies have been transplanted using UCB stem cells. This has led to banks of frozen, HLA typed cord blood units in different parts of the world. There are now over 25 cord blood banks (CBB) around the world with more than 100,000 unrelated, voluntarily donated units available for search. A system of FACT accreditation is in place and the international network of cord banks, Netcord, subscribes to the standards and principles of FACT. Netcord has a virtual office that enables searches from cord blood banks in over 9 countries to be done simultaneously and reported to the transplant centre within minutes.