It can then be listed on Be The Match Registry and is available for searching patients. Names of cord blood donors are never shared so donation is completely anonymous. This is because a cord blood unit has a limited number of blood-forming cells. Smaller patients, like children, usually will receive enough cells from one cord blood unit.
Larger patients need more cells and will sometimes receive two or more cord blood units combined. Doctors look at a variety of factors when determining which cell source is best for a patient. A doctor might choose cord blood for transplant because:. Only about a third of patients with detectable cancer in their blood at the time of transplant will still be alive three years later , as compared to nearly three-quarters of those without such residual disease.
Patients with detectable amounts of cancer cells in their blood could benefit from choosing cord blood as the source of stem cells for their transplant over a traditional transplant, Milano said.
For the other two-thirds of the patients, those with no minimal residual disease, cord blood transplants, and traditional transplants had very similar outcomes. The study describes results from patients who have received stem cell transplants from cord blood or from unrelated adult donors.
Of those, patients received cord blood transplants. Cord blood transplantation offers one known, big advantage over adult donor transplants for the general population, said Dr.
There have been cases where the patients own cells are used but this is rare. At this point, the transplanted stem cells will produce a new immune system that will also help to eliminate any cancer cells that remain.
The patient is left with healthy blood cells and a new immune system. As such, hundreds of cord blood transplants have taken place to aid in the treatment of those suffering from leukaemia. It has proven to be an effective treatment in many patients around the world.
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