Cord Blood Transplantation

Abstract

The number of unrelated cord blood transplantation (CBT) is increasing because of its immediate availability and transplantability across the HLA barriers. The multivariate analysis of unrelated CBT for children with acute leukemia in Japan showed that the favourable factor for neutrophil engraftment was larger cell dose, and risk factors of leukemic relapse were advanced stage at transplant, HLA 6/6 match, and grade 0-I acute GVHD. The risk factor for event-free survival was advanced stage at transplant and it was not associated with either cell dose or HLA disparity. In patients with non-malignant diseases, the incidence of graft failure was high and survival was poor especially in patients with aplastic anemia and metabolic diseases. It is important to increase the engraftment rate and reduce the transplant-related complications such as posttransplant infections to improve the outcome of unrelated CBT.